Selves Inserted
by Tannim Murphy
Summary: Tannim and Kagato take a trip... in more ways than one! Double self insertion fun! The Lost Chapter now added.
1. Chapter 1

Selves Inserted  
  
  
Brought to you by Truly Krappy Productions  
  
"Truly Krappy, never half-assed."  
  
  
Disclaimer: At the bottom.  
  
  
Chapter One  
  
---  
  
Kagato opened his mail carefully. He knew better than to expect a  
bomb or anything, he was far too unimportant. But you could never be  
too careful. Some spam mail was so awful, so pointless, he'd spent  
hours washing his hands after opening it because he'd actually touched  
the contents. Alas, this bizarre-looking letter wasn't spam at all!  
It was....  
  
Kagato blinked. It was a letter of acceptance by that school in  
Japan. For that town... what'sit'sname?  
  
He was accepted as a Tutor in Japan, and inside the envelope, as well,  
was a packing list, and an airplane ticket!  
  
With a short, embarrassingly simplistic dance, Kagato made his way  
back to his crappy, smelly apartment, already memorizing the list of  
things to take with him.  
  
---  
  
Tannim yawned as he rifled through the mail. The junk mixed in with  
the bills, and a person had to be careful not to confuse the two.  
Tannim was very tired, as he had just finished watching all of Trigun  
and both Original Dirty Pair DVDs, back-to-back-to-back, and his mind  
was a bit fried. It was also shot, shredded, and pelted with  
shrapnel. He had explosions on the brain, to say the least.  
  
'Curious, what's this bit of mail that looks neither junk, nor bill?'  
Tannim's mind mulled over the implications of actually getting mail  
from someone who might care about his well being.  
  
'Nah, it's got to be some junk in the disguise.' None the less,  
Tannim opened the mail with vigor to see what secret surprises might  
lie inside.  
  
"Congratulations, you have been blah, blah, blah, Japan, blah, blah,  
tutor, blah." It took a few moments for the realization to sink in.  
"Japan? Me? Tutor?! FREE PLANE TICKET?!" The young man let out a  
whoop of joy as he ran around in a fit of excitement. It's a shame  
the Tannim slammed into a wall a moment later; he might have tried to  
pull some really crazy stunts.  
  
---  
  
A few days later, Kagato found himself boarding an ugly 757 for  
California. He'd been excited, until he heard that the In-flight  
movie was being changed at the last moment. As long as it wasn't Bio-  
Dome or Grease, though, he figured he could suffer through it.  
  
Upon boarding, he found himself stuffed between a fat, greasy-looking  
woman with body odor, and another woman who cradled a screaming baby.  
The plane, at this time, was still at the terminal.  
  
Kagato sighed. "I was made to suffer. I guess it's my lot in life."  
he said, with a grin. Thankfully, he whipped out the novel he always  
had stashed in one of his pockets, and started reading.  
  
Eventually, the plane took off, and, with Jacksonville International  
Airport far, far behind him, he was on his way.  
  
---  
  
Tannim looked about as he boarded the plane to Japan. A rather large  
carry on was clutched protectively in one hand, ticket in the other,  
as he searched for his seat. Various Japanese and non-Japanese people  
were either already sitting, or boarding the plane with him. Finally,  
he came to his seat.  
  
"Forty-Nine A?" he muttered as he glanced up, and then down at his  
ticket. He then looked to see that the only person sitting in the row  
seemed to be an American, like him. That person, however, was sitting  
in his seat, right next to the window. The guy looked to be the  
veritable beanpole.  
  
"Excuse me; you're sitting in my seat," said Tannim a little  
peevishly.  
  
"Oh? Darn. Thought it'd be free. Wanna trade? I've got the aisle,"  
Kagato said with a smile. He didn't want to get on anybody's bad side  
just yet, but he did want the window seat.  
  
Tannim looked down at the seat. "Bah. It'd be too much trouble to  
move ya. I'm too lazy to do the airplane dance." He sat down in seat  
'B' and took out from his bag an RPG book entitled 'Big Eyes, Small  
Mouths,' before putting his carry-on underneath the seat in front of  
him.  
  
Kagato stared out the window for another minute, and then turned to  
the other guy. "You know... we can take turns, or something.... I  
just realized how much water I'm going to be looking at, with a window  
seat to Japan."  
  
Tannim grinned. "Oh? And what kind of turns would those be? You get  
beginning and end, while I get water?"  
  
"No, no... I mean... unless that's what you want... I was thinking  
more along the lines of..." he trailed off. Finally, he shrugged.  
"Doesn't really matter how I word it, I know we both want to watch the  
landing. Am I right?" he asked with a little grin.  
  
A faraway gleam entered Tannim's eyes as he thought about it. "Mmm...  
Japan...." It looked as if he was on the verge of drooling. He gave  
a short bark of a laugh. "You bet I want to see it when we go in.  
How about this: I get leaning privileges. You're much skinnier than I  
am, and therefore easier to look past." Tannim finished out his  
proposal with a bit of the ol' Tannim-logic.  
  
Kagato nodded. "Sounds like a plan." He held out his hand. "Kyle  
B... but I go by Kagato."  
  
Tannim smiled as he shook Kagato's hand. "Matt K, but I like to be  
called 'Tannim.'" He blinked for a moment. "Hey, that's my line! I  
always say, 'sounds like a plan,'" he complained good-naturedly.  
  
Kagato grinned. "Where you headed?"  
  
Tannim literally bounced in his seat, pumping his arms in the air and  
doing the chair dance in celebration. "I~I get to go~o to Japa~an as  
a tu~uto~or and teach e~engli~ish," he sang as he bounced around.  
  
Kagato quirked a brow at Tannim's antics. "Funny, that. I'm doing  
the same thing. Maybe we can keep in touch. Share teaching  
techniques, or something?"  
  
Tannim blinked. "Oh? Where at? Mainland or one of the islands? I  
wish I was going to Hokkaido."  
  
Kagato sighed softly. "Yeah. I'm going to Nagoya. Talented as I may  
be, Tokyo didn't find me 'quite' talented enough for their schools."  
  
"You too?" asked Tannim in surprise.  
  
Kagato blinked. "You mean... we're teaching in the same town?"  
  
Tannim smiled. "What are the odds?"  
  
Kagato shrugged. "Weird.... Oh well. What do you do... aside from  
tutoring, now?" he asked with a smile.  
  
"I enjoy reading, watching anime, and playing RPGs; hence the book  
that combines the three," said Tannim with a sly smile.  
  
"How bizarre. I enjoy all three, as well. What's your favorite  
Anime?"  
  
Tannim rolled his eyes at the question. "All of the above."  
  
"Heh. I know what you mean. Right before I left, though, I was  
watching Love Hina. So... I suppose that series is first and foremost  
on my mind at the moment."  
  
"I haven't been able to see that!" Tannim snapped his fingers in  
irritation. "Been too broke lately."  
  
A voice warbled over the intercom. "Please fasten your safety belts;  
we're about ready for takeoff." The message was repeated in Japanese.  
  
Kagato, already buckled up, just grinned. "I have a similar problem.  
I'm always broke... but it's always because I'm buying more anime,  
instead of paying bills. It's a pretty bad obsession. Hopefully I'll  
overcome it in Japan."  
  
Tannim snickered. "Like that's likely."  
  
Kagato let out a large sigh. "Tell me about it." He grinned  
suddenly. "Prices will be cheaper, though!" he exclaimed, stabbing a  
finger into the air to punctuate his point.  
  
A voice boomed from Tannim's left. "Please Put On Your Seat Belt."  
  
The young man turned to see a large, Swedish woman glaring down at him  
with fire in her eyes.  
  
Tannim eeped. "Yes'm." He hastily complied.  
  
Kagato chuckled a little, and then turned to watch the ground  
disappear as they took off into the clouds.  
  
A few minutes later, the blue of the ocean sparkled far below, and  
Kagato turned back to Tannim. "Well... I doubt the scenery will  
change for some time."  
  
Tannim was hunched over, reading the RPG book on his knees and holding  
a smaller, book-shaped object with a pen-like object in his other  
hand, and occasionally punching at the book-shaped one. He grunted at  
Kagato's words.  
  
"Mhm."  
  
Kagato grinned at the response, and then leaned his seat back a  
little. "G'night!" he said cheerfully, before twisting away from  
Tannim to face the wall of the plane. A few minutes later, he was  
asleep.  
  
After a twenty minutes pass, Tannim turned to Kagato and asked, "What  
was that? You say something?"  
  
Kagato's only response was a half-snore-half-grunt.  
  
"Okay." Tannim got back to work.  
  
---  
  
Tannim slumbered. He dreamt. The dream was a whirling chaos of  
colors, conveying some sense of urgency. Just as the colors started  
to form into the figure of a person-  
  
"Hey! Japan! We're there!" Kagato said, waking Tannim up from his  
slumber.  
  
-the dream was rudely interrupted.  
  
Outside the window, instead of an open ocean, there was the green,  
hilly terrain of Japan's main island.  
  
Tannim sleepily rubbed his eyes as he muttered implications to  
himself, the dream fading from his mind. "Goddamn, it's too damned  
early in the morn-" he was cut off as he caught a glimpse of the view  
outside the window. Within moments he had crowded over Kagato, nearly  
crushing the man, in his efforts to get a better look. "Japan...  
pretty...."  
  
"...yeah...." was all Kagato said, wishing he could sweatdrop.  
  
"Look! Lookit! It's Mount Fuji! Yaay!" cried Tannim with all the  
enthusiasm of a four year old.  
  
Kagato's eye twitched slightly, a habit he'd picked up from watching  
too much anime. It used to be voluntary, but after so many years of  
anime, it was practically a Pavlovian response.  
  
"Isn't this great? Japan at last!" said Tannim joyfully. He paused,  
and then blinked at Kagato. "Oh, you want to see too?"  
  
"Umm... yeah. Tell you what.... Why don't I just look at Japan from  
the ground? The window's all yours buddy."  
  
Tannim smiled like a two year old who had just tasted his first candy.  
"Yaaay! Thanks mister nice man!" He then promptly forgot about  
Kagato and settled in to enjoy the beauty of Japan's scenery.  
  
Kagato, honestly sweating (but, alas, no large drop creeping down his  
head), somehow managed to squirm by Tannim without disturbing him, and  
sat down in the seat he was rightfully assigned. Then he turned, and  
looked across the plane and out the far window, which wasn't blocked  
at all.  
  
---  
  
By now, Tannim had calmed down and began acting like the adult his  
country claimed he was. The carry-on in hand, Tannim found that the  
first obstacle to his job in Japan was a metal detector. Why one was  
sitting between him and his luggage, he didn't know, but he had to  
pass through in order to complete the journey. The journey to a new  
life, new land, new freedoms, new constraints, new-  
  
Kagato, looking at the signs all around him, sighed.  
  
-hardships, new worries, new complaints-  
  
"I knew I should have learned more Katakana than 'Ba' and 'Ka.'"  
Sadly, he failed to notice the brief flash that signaled Tannim's  
disappearance as Tannim walked through the metal detector.  
  
-new feelings, new clothes, everything shifting-  
  
Of course, a moment later, when he walked through, the flash was ever-  
present... as was a sudden burst of... 'something' in his brain.  
  
-wait a second. New clothes? Shifting?  
  
"Gyaaa!!!" Kagato shouted, dropping to his knees while clutching his  
head. A second later, he fell over sideways, writhing on the clean  
floor.  
  
Odd clothing forgotten, Tannim turned around--faster than he ever had  
in his life--and rushed to Kagato. "What? What's wrong? Kagato,  
bud, speak to me!" Shaking Kagato with hands unfamiliar to him,  
Tannim continued to try and get his new friend to stop writhing on the  
ground. However, Kagato was... changing.  
  
"Augh!" Kagato cried, an anguished and confused noise that sounded  
pained and questioning. Then, without another sound, Kagato simply  
disappeared.  
  
A breeze blew in dramatically, despite it being indoors, and brushed  
against the frozen Tannim's red trench coat that he hadn't been  
wearing ten seconds ago.  
  
"Well. Shit."  
  
---  
  
He was weightless. That was the first thing Kagato realized, once he  
forced past to pain to try to understand what was going on.  
Fortunately, with that realization, others were realized in short  
order; and, as each one settled in his brain, the pain lessened, and  
became more and more understandable.  
  
He couldn't see, exactly; but somehow he could perceive. All around  
him were flickers, vaguely human-shaped, each one colored by something  
that wasn't actually color. The not-colors ranged from bright to  
dark, and, upon simple introspection, he realized he was seeing a  
summary of mood and emotion.  
  
After a couple more seconds of this, he also realized he wasn't seeing  
with eyes. All around him, he could 'see' people; in front, behind,  
above, and below. Close to him, a figure crouched. Apparently,  
however, it couldn't see him, because its head moved around slowly, as  
if searching.  
  
A moment later Kagato realized he could make out other objects,  
floors, walls, equipment, in a similar fashion. With shock, he  
realized he could actually peer through them, and 'see' the  
electricity as it traveled along circuits.  
  
Kagato tried to blink, and realized that, wherever he was, he didn't  
have eyes. With that revelation, he also concluded that he didn't  
have arms, feet, a head, or a body at all.  
  
Finally, with all these 'discoveries' having been made, Kagato decided  
to attempt something big: moving. Unfortunately, he didn't have feet,  
so trying to step off didn't work. However, the thought of falling,  
and the motions associated with doing so DID have an effect. Kagato's  
perception twisted.  
  
With that little change noted, he then tried to 'will' himself to move  
forward, towards the far wall.  
  
Success! Kagato crossed the space rapidly, but he could still 'see'  
the movement.  
  
His next step was moving back towards where he'd started. However,  
thinking of where he wanted to be, coupled with the thought of 'I want  
to be there' didn't move him. Instead, he found himself back there,  
without having to traverse the intervening space.  
  
Feeling happier, but unable to grin, he tested out moving and  
teleporting short distances for a bit.  
  
Finally, though, he wondered if he could get back to wherever he'd  
come from. Was he dead?  
  
"Where AM I?" Kagato asked himself. Had there been someone else where  
he was, they'd have wondered how he had made any noise in the void-  
like place they were; however, being alone, Kagato just thought it had  
been said within the confines of his mind.  
  
Thinking for a bit, he couldn't quite make the connection, but the  
location (and situation) was very familiar. He just couldn't put a  
name to it.  
  
Finally, he shrugged it off, and began teleporting around at random,  
trying to get back to wherever the people were.  
  
---  
  
Questions flew around Tannim's mind almost faster than he could think  
of them. What? How? Why? All of these were brought up and  
similarly rejected as not having enough data to answer.  
  
The odd thought that perhaps Kagato had simply walked off, or fallen  
to the side, percolated through Tannim's brain. He slowly turned his  
head left, then right, in a futile attempt to locate his erstwhile  
friend.  
  
"Kagato?" whispered Tannim to the empty space. "What..."  
  
The words would not come. The shock was too great. The thought  
sprang to Tannim's idle mind: 'When in doubt, doing something is  
better than nothing.'  
  
Forming his thoughts into something resembling a coherent manner,  
Tannim stood up... only to finally take note of his recent change in  
clothing.  
  
He was wearing a long, odd-looking red trench coat, with buttons up  
the middle. His left arm was covered in leather, numerous small belts  
wrapped around as if to hold it in place. Gloves covered his hands,  
and for the first time, Tannim noticed he was seeing the world in a  
tint of yellow. Reaching up to touch his face, his fingers brushed  
against the sunglasses resting there.  
  
"Wha..." Tannim received his second shock of the day: he was not  
himself.  
  
Quickly looking around, Tannim spied a reflective surface and  
literally dashed over to it; feet making strides he never had been  
able to before. In his haste, Tannim bumped into a few people, not  
bothering to say sorry, only wanting to see-  
  
-a stranger's face staring back at him. No, not a stranger. His  
features were still recognizable. His eyes were larger than he had  
ever remembered them being, with his nose shrunk down. The odd thing  
was that he looked like an anime character come to life.  
  
Tannim froze at the thought. Slowly, he turned around.  
  
Everyone.  
  
Everything.  
  
It all looked as if it was part of some sort of anime.  
  
For the second time that day, Tannim responded to the situation with  
the only words he could think of.  
  
"Well. Shit."  
  
---  
  
Kagato was getting annoyed. He'd managed to get his teleporting more  
exact, but what he really wanted was to be where everyone else was.  
  
Struggling in one spot for a moment, he realized that there was  
something he could almost feel... an intangible wall that he could  
push against with his mind.  
  
Kagato began to push. At first it was easy, but pretty soon the  
barrier's yield lessened. Finally, just before he felt he didn't have  
any more strength with which to push, he felt the barrier give.  
  
Kagato reappeared behind Tannim, about four feet off the ground.  
  
Realizing he could feel air, and extremities, Kagato opened his  
eyes... and saw.  
  
His perception was the same above, beside, and behind him, and he'd  
already gotten used to seeing like that; but overlaying what was in  
front of him were actual images.  
  
Kagato closed his eyes, and realized he could still see. Just not  
visually, as with his eyes open. He grinned then, thinking about how  
unsettling talking to someone who had their eyes closed would be. As  
that thought entered his mind, he made the connection.  
  
Xelloss. Slayers.  
  
Mazoku.  
  
Kagato opened his eyes, and saw Tannim before and below him, back  
turned. Only, it wasn't Tannim. He didn't know how to explain it,  
but Tannim looked weird.  
  
Using his new moving abilities, he dropped to the floor, oblivious to  
the stares of those around him (but feeling oddly pleased with the  
general unease he was causing them). He deduced that wherever he was  
on the astral plane correlated with his position on the mortal plane.  
He grabbed Tannim's shoulder. "Tannim? That you?" he asked.  
  
Almost faster than the eye could see, Tannim spun around. "KAGATO!"  
he shouted, overjoyed to see his friend again. Tannim swept up Kagato  
in a bear hug as he cried tears of happiness. "I thought I'd lost  
you!"  
  
"Augh!" Kagato cried. The waves of relief and joy radiating off  
Tannim felt like HARD slaps against his 'other' body. He pulled back,  
taking his tangible form on the mortal plane with him.  
  
Tannim blinked at his suddenly empty arms. "Kagato? Dammit, did you  
disappear again?" Irritation formed on Tannim's face as he wondered  
how his friend was doing that.  
  
Kagato reappeared behind Tannim again, this time with a grin on his  
face... and his eyes closed.  
  
"Confusing, isn't it?"  
  
Tannim spun once more to face the voice. Relief flooded him. "Jeez,  
what happened to you man? And what's with the funky out-" realization  
dawned on him as he took in Kagato's clothing, "-fit?" Tannim paused  
a moment to take in Kagato's black clothing, closed eyes, and slight  
smirk. "You changed too, huh?" It was more of a statement than a  
question.  
  
Kagato wasn't sure what Tannim meant by 'too,' so he walked over to  
the mirror and looked into it.  
  
Then, he remember he had to open his eyes to 'see' a reflection. He  
did so, gasping in surprise. Staring back was... him, but not him.  
  
"God... I've been Anime-ified."  
  
Tannim placed a hand on Kagato's shoulder. "Congratulations. It's a  
bishonen."  
  
Kagato frowned, and then buried his elbow in Tannim's stomach... much  
faster than he'd ever been able to before.  
  
"...guess I got speed to go with it. No wonder everything felt a  
little slow unless I concentrated."  
  
Tannim's only reply was to grunt, then fall over clutching his  
stomach.  
  
Kagato just grinned, and prodded Tannim with his toe for a second.  
"Come on. We've got a train to catch."  
  
"Tannim and Kagato, I presume?" a voice spoke behind the pair. Both  
men turned around to the stunning sight of Setsuna Meio in a business  
suit. Tannim abruptly tried to stand up, but crumpled back to the  
ground in pain.  
  
Kagato stared for a moment, and then tightened up. The effort of  
staying on the mortal plane would get easier, he assumed, but shock or  
pain to his astral body would, at the moment, cause him to withdraw.  
Kagato did not want to surprise this person by disappearing. There  
was a good reason for that, too: he knew her. In fact, trying so hard  
not to disappear, he accidentally muttered a single word: "Pluto..."  
  
The only indication of surprise was a brief widening of eyes, and even  
that was concealed a moment later. "You two are the English tutors  
for Juuban High, are you not? I have been sent by the school to  
escort you there."  
  
Kagato, seeing her reaction (on more levels than anyone else could)  
gave Tannim a nudge on the back. "Go for it, talkative-one."  
  
Tannim stood in pain, still clutching his stomach. He gave Setsuna a  
weak smile, before glaring at Kagato with a look of unbridled hatred.  
"Yeah... that's us."  
  
Briefly patting his coat, he found to his surprise a wallet. Inside  
the wallet was a picture of him, and had his name listed as Tannim  
Murphy. He held up the evidence toward Setsuna. "See? I'm me.  
Sorta." He gave a weak laugh at his own statement, before scrunching  
up his face in pain once more.  
  
Kagato sighed. Even though he could feel his body in the astral plane  
absorb Tannim's anger, he knew that pissing him off too much would be  
bad for their upcoming work year. He resolved to be a little nicer to  
Tannim.  
  
Setsuna raised an eyebrow at Tannim's words. She turned to Kagato and  
gave him a speculative look. After a moment, she said, "Very well.  
Follow me." Setsuna spun on her heel and began walking toward the  
exit of the airport.  
  
Kagato followed behind Setsuna, wondering where, exactly, he went from  
reality to a demented mixture of Anime-esque reality-scapes.  
  
Tannim feebly followed after the pair. "Hey guys... wait up...."  
  
---  
  
Chapter One End  
  
  
Disclaimer: We do not own Trigun, Slayers, or Sailor Moon. They  
belong to their respective owners. We are not making any money off of  
this.  
  
  
Authors Notes:  
  
Tannim: Well, we did it again, only this time worse. It's an SI!  
Run for the hills! Heh. At any rate, if you've read this far, it's  
either because you genuinely liked the fic, or you were morbidly  
curious. I hoped you liked it. Please, if you have the time, send  
some C&C to us.  
  
Kagato: Honestly. We aren't THAT bad. Hopefully, you've read this far,  
and have come to appreciate us as authors of stellar pieces of wor...  
riight.. nevermind. Anyway.. This fic should have a more... stable  
plot, the sattire and humor will be toned down from TtEoTM(AOtE)and of  
course... umm.. .  
Anyway.. hope you all enjoy this. C&C is always appreciated.  
Taitekikagato@aol.com 


	2. Chapter 2

Selves Inserted  
  
  
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, Trigin, and Slayers do not belong to us,  
they belong to their respective owners. We are not making any money  
off of this.  
  
  
Chapter Two  
  
---  
  
Setsuna was... puzzled, to say the least. The two people she had hand  
picked out of the hundreds of applicants were acting a bit...  
strangely.  
  
Kagato followed Setsuna, watching her emotions from his astral point  
of view, and admiring the way she hid them so well visually.  
Wondering if he could do the same, he willed his body to act  
comfortable, as if nothing was wrong. His hesitant gait, and jerky  
head-motions smoothed out, until he looked like he'd walked along this  
path a thousand times.  
  
Setsuna kept her gaze forward as she pondered. Part of the reason she  
picked these two were because of their... quirks. But even so,  
something seemed to be off. Especially with that boy who seemed to  
have his eyes closed all the time. She hadn't really heard him  
whisper 'Pluto,' had she?  
  
Well, despite getting off on the wrong foot, hopefully they'd be able  
to protect themselves, and the students, in a dangerous situation.  
That was the basis of bringing them so close to her precious Senshi,  
after all.  
  
Tannim thought. He pondered. He contemplated. He complained.  
  
"Are we there yet?"  
  
"No," was Setsuna's terse reply.  
  
"Are we there yet?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Are we there yet?"  
  
"No."  
  
Tannim finally shut up. He had been asking the same question for ten  
minutes, and Setsuna 'still' wouldn't crack. He had been feeling  
better since the pain in his stomach had receded. Amazingly, it had  
done so at an astonishing rate. Besides the whole 'I just got sucked  
into an anime universe' thing, nothing exciting was going on, and he  
was getting slightly bored at just walking. Tannim entertained  
himself by testing his reflexes.  
  
Kagato, similarly, was testing his own newfound powers. What worried  
him, though, was the way his body (he'd already started to think of  
his astral body as the real thing) continually absorbed the emotions  
rolling off Setsuna every time Tannim asked that question. And even  
more unsettling was the way they felt when absorbed. It felt really  
good. This would have been unsettling for anybody, but knowing what  
he was, Kagato was more worried than an uninformed individual would  
have been.  
  
Tannim pulled back a foot in preparation in kicking a small pebble.  
Suddenly, trajectories, velocities, thoughts of how to ricochet off  
buildings, people, trees, thoughts of where to kick the pebble, which  
part to make contact with the shoe; all of these things flooded his  
mind with all the primal power of an animalistic instinct, something  
felt emotionally, not intellectually grasped.  
  
Then he kicked.  
  
*plink*  
  
The stone hurled itself past the nose of a passerby.  
  
*p-ting*  
  
It bounced off a metal pole and upward toward a nearby building.  
  
*whack*  
  
Careening off a the cement of a windowsill, the pebble continued on  
it's course.  
  
*thunk*  
  
The small piece of stone ricocheted off a nearby tree branch to land  
in Tannim's outstretched palm.  
  
Kagato, watching all this with minimal (at first), but ever growing  
interest, turned to Tannim when it was over. "How...?" was all he  
asked, the question evident on his face.  
  
Setsuna had heard the commotion, but had ignored it, finally spotting  
some familiar buildings that lay on the outskirts of Juuban.  
  
Tannim shook his head slowly, before placing the pebble in his pocket.  
"I got skills," he said, a small amount of awe evident in his voice.  
"Keen."  
  
Setsuna gave a cool glance back at both of the men. "We're almost  
there."  
  
"Are we th-" The rest of Tannim's comment was cut off by another  
elbow to the stomach.  
  
---  
  
"Welcome, tutors, to Juuban High School," proclaimed Setsuna with a  
small smirk on her face.  
  
Tannim stared in awe at the place he was going to work at for the  
next... wait, how long was it again?  
  
"How long are we supposed to work here again?"  
  
Kagato just listened with his eyes shut, a small grin slowly growing  
on his face. He could see Setsuna's exasperation when asked, and the  
growing doubt in her choices as well. He deigned to remain quiet, and  
see what kind of hole Tannim dug himself.  
  
"And where are we supposed to live, anyway? I don't remember reading  
anything telling us where we're going to sleep. Do we have to sleep  
in the park? We'd smell kinda funny after the first few days..."  
Tannim rambled on about different things, from expenses to what kind  
of shampoo he liked to use.  
  
Setsuna frowned at Tannim. "Those are all valid questions, and the  
answers will be revealed to you... in time." Setsuna said, cutting him  
off. She was thankful, at least, that Kagato wasn't asking any  
questions.  
  
In fact, looking at him closely, she recognized that look on his face.  
She'd used it at a Senshi meeting or two before. She realized she'd  
have to keep an eye on Kagato just as much as she would with Tannim.  
With this revelation, she sighed, shrugged in her head, and turned to  
continue giving them their tour of Juuban.  
  
---  
  
"And here is where you'll be staying."  
  
The three were standing in front of a large apartment complex. It  
wasn't the cleanest place around, but neither was it a dump. The area  
around it looked marginally well kept, and free of trash.  
  
Setsuna had a mental eyebrow twitch at the anticipated flood of  
questions.  
  
"What floor are we staying on? Is it high up? I like high places.  
But not too high. Too high and I start getting airsick. Is it too  
high? What are our neighbors like? Are they noisy? Do they hate  
noise? Are they nosy? Do they like their privacy? Are they-"  
  
"Are the rooms furnished, and in our names?" Kagato asked, Tannim's  
incessant questioning continuing in the background.  
  
"-nice people who'd share a cup of sugar with me? Or-"  
  
Setsuna smiled a little, then, a little upturn at the mouth, but the  
thanks in that little grin was almost palpable.  
  
"-maybe they're evil aliens from outer space-"  
  
"Yes, the apartments are pre-furnished, and in your names."  
  
"-who want to steal my soul! Perhaps-"  
  
"Then," Kagato continued, "we're going up to unpack.... Would you  
care to meet us again tomorrow to show us around the campus more?  
Around... say, noon?"  
  
"-everyone could just get along-"  
  
Setsuna nodded, once. "Noon, in the lobby. Be there, Kagato,  
Tannim."  
  
"-if we all held hands and sang- huh? What were we talking about?"  
  
Once Setsuna was gone, Kagato turned to Tannim and waved a peace-sign  
before blinking out of existence.  
  
Tannim blinked. "Aw, crap. No one told me what room we were staying  
in."  
  
Unfortunately, nobody had told Kagato either. To remedy this, he  
reappeared a moment later near the desk, took a step towards it, and  
rang the bell. An orderly appeared quickly.  
  
"Hai. Nan desu ka?"  
  
Kagato stared at the orderly for a moment, his eyelid twitching again.  
'I get anime-ified, turned into a Mazoku... and I can't speak or  
understand Japanese any better than I could before my change.'  
  
"Gomen-ne, Amerikago-wa wakarimasen..." replied the orderly, confusion  
evident in his eyes.  
  
"Habl.. err... Can you speak English?" Kagato said, a little slower  
than his usual speed.  
  
"Gomen-ne wakarimasen..." replied the orderly, confusion evident in  
his eyes, "gomen-ne, Amerikago-wa wakarimasen..."  
  
"...." Kagato smiled, turned, and disappeared, reappearing a moment  
later with Tannim clutched by the arm.  
  
"You speak any Japanese?" he asked Tannim, with a quirked brow and  
little hope in his voice.  
  
Tannim blinked his eyes hard for a moment, dispelling vague feelings  
of dizziness. That was some ride. As the question sank in, Tannim  
raised both eyebrows at Kagato. "How else would I be able to get a  
tutoring job here?"  
  
Kagato started to say something, and then frowned. Finally, "I'm not  
going to merit that with a response," was all he said, before turning  
him to look at the sweating orderly who stared at Kagato like he'd  
grown a third eyeball.  
  
Tannim pointed toward the orderly. "What is it you're trying to ask  
him?"  
  
"Where our rooms are."  
  
Tannim nodded, before turning and asking, "Sumimasen, roomu-wa doko  
desu ka?"  
  
"Onamae-wa?"  
  
"Watashi-wa Tannim desu." Pointing at Kagato, he said, "Sore-wa  
Kagato desu."  
  
The orderly looked in the notebook clutched in his hands. "Hai.  
Tannim-san roomu-wa shichi-juu-san desu. Kagato-san roomu-wa shichi-  
juu-yon desu."  
  
"Arigatou gozaimasu." Tannim nodded his thanks as he headed toward  
the elevators.  
  
Kagato grinned at the orderly, and disappeared again. A few moments  
later, when the elevator doors rumbled open, there, leaning against  
the back wall like he hadn't a care in the world, stood Kagato. He  
was grinning annoyingly at Tannim, and, as he'd already begun to grow  
used to doing, his eyes were closed.  
  
Tannim grinned. "That guy looked like he was pretty annoyed with you,  
Kagato. So, know what room we're going to?"  
  
Kagato smirked. "That'll be a fun game to play while I'm here.... As  
for the room number, you tell me. I'm not omniscient. However, when  
we do get there... we need to talk." He motioned towards the buttons,  
and started humming to the elevator music that had already started to  
repeat itself.  
  
Tannim pushed the button with a big '7' on it. "Your room number is  
seventy-four, if you're curious." By the time he had turned back  
around, Kagato was already gone.  
  
Kagato looked around the studio apartment he would be calling home for  
a while, and sighed. Moving in was always hard... but being in  
another country, he didn't even have his computer with him. It was  
somewhere in his world, at the airport in Tokyo, never to be seen  
again.  
  
---  
  
After finally getting to his apartment... Tannim realized he had  
forgotten to get the key. One trip back down to the first floor, an  
apologetic Japanese phrase or two, and one more trip up the elevator  
later, Tannim actually entered his room.  
  
Nodding thoughtfully, Tannim remarked, "Nice digs." The place was a  
studio apartment; one big room and bathroom off to the side. He  
wandered around a bit, checking the closet (half filled with normal  
clothing, the other half filled with duplicates of his red trench  
coat), poking around the fridge (fully stocked!), and finally he  
wandered into the sleeping area.  
  
Resting on the folded futon were two objects; a small square sheet of  
paper, and an odd-looking revolver. Slowly, Tannim walked over to the  
gun and picked it up; it was a perfect match for the revolver Vash the  
Stampede used in Trigun.  
  
Tannim absently holstered the esoteric revolver within his coat  
without really thinking about it, only feeling the sensation of a part  
of him being restored to it's rightful place.  
  
Looking down, Tannim read the paper as it lain on the bed. It was  
written in both English and Japanese.  
  
'This is a certificate signifying that the individual known as TANNIM  
MURPHY has been granted the special privilege to carry and discharge  
firearms within the Nation of Japan. It may be revoked at any time  
should the individual abuse this privilege.'  
  
Tannim stared. "Okay. I thought I had seen weird, but this...  
shouldn't be possible. Bah. I just won't think about it." He placed  
the card inside another pocket. "Better go see what Kagato wants to  
'talk' about."  
  
---  
  
Knocking loudly on the door, Tannim shouted "Howdy, neighbor!" in his  
most cheerful voice.  
  
The door swung open at Tannim's pounding to a furnished apartment.  
  
Kagato, however, was nowhere in sight.  
  
Tannim slowly wandered in as he casually looked around. "Kagato?  
Bud? You there?"  
  
Kagato appeared, then, at the table. "Have a seat," he asked, sitting  
down in an unpadded-but-comfortable chair.  
  
Tannim rolled his eyes as he sat down. "You love to do that, don't  
you?"  
  
"It's great!" Kagato beamed. "But... it's something... no. It's one  
of the things we need to talk about. In the airport, we somehow ended  
up in Sailor Moon. I'm sure you already know this, so I'll get to what  
we don't know."  
  
Tannim nodded. "Okay."  
  
"Obviously, you've noticed my teleporting around and sudden  
strength.... What about you? Aside from the attire, I mean. What's  
changed?"  
  
Absently, Tannim took out the pebble and rubbed it in between his  
thumb and forefinger. "I'm a whole lot faster, and I have a sort  
of... sixth sense when it comes to projectiles, you know? Anything  
moving, or poised to move, I can sort of 'see' where it's going and  
when it's going to get there."  
  
Tannim snapped his fingers in remembrance. "Oh, and I found these in  
my room." He pulled out the gun and card, showing them to Kagato.  
"That's the imperial seal, making it official," Tannim pointed out.  
  
Kagato quirked a brow, his eyes opening to read the document.  
"Well..." he started, handing back the proffered items. "I'm a  
Mazoku."  
  
Tannim stared at Kagato for a second. A half-smile formed on his face  
before he actually noticed Kagato's eyes: a golden hue, and slit  
pupils. Blinking, Tannim finally made the connection. "Ah. Xelloss.  
But why don't you have his outfit...?"  
  
Kagato just shrugged. "Xelloss. Heh. I thought so, too.... Power-  
wise, I suppose we're close. He's not really here to compare to,  
though. No... I think I'm just a Mazoku... 'Mazoku X'" he said with a  
grin. "Anyway... my biggest problem with this is the feeding."  
  
"Right." Tannim placed a thoughtful finger on his chin. "You're like  
one, big, youma in this world."  
  
"Ehh... Not exactly. But it's still not a good thing. Fortunately,  
though, it's not active, unless I try... and I haven't yet. There are  
enough bad vibes anywhere to keep me content, I suppose. But if  
something happens, and I must have power... I can feel the ability to  
suck it out of people just waiting to be used." He sighed. "I hope  
that's the worst of our surprises. Anything else about you?"  
  
"You've heard of Trigun, right? Seen the anime? Read the manga?"  
  
Kagato donned a thoughtful look. Tannim leaned forward, awaiting an  
answer. Finally, when Kagato had sensed he'd leaned forward enough:  
"Nope!" he exclaimed happily, "not a one!"  
  
Tannim crashed headfirst into the floor. He picked himself up,  
rubbing the quickly fading bruise. "Jeez. I've got to be more  
careful around you." He shook his head to clear it. "Anyway, as I  
was going to explain... apparently I've taken on the characteristics  
of a character from that. Vash the Stampede, also known as the  
'Humanoid Typhoon,' even if he isn't exactly human. I won't go into  
details, but the main thing is this gun," he held up the strange-  
looking revolver, "combined with my right arm can create an 'angel  
arm' capable of destroying all of Tokyo. Sort of a 'last resort' type  
of weapon."  
  
Kagato just nodded. Finally, he said, "Well... this should prove  
interesting... we'll see tomorrow, when Pluto... er... Setsuna shows  
us around a little more."  
  
"Yeah, I think I'll hit the sack. It's been a busy day and all, and  
getting teleported to other universes wears a guy out..." Tannim  
stretched, and then moved to leave the room. He mutters to himself,  
"worse than jetlag, I swear," as he leaves.  
  
Kagato, once Tannim leaves, moves over to the bed and lies down. Only  
then does he realize he doesn't feel even remotely tired.  
  
After a few minutes just lying there, he disappears, and, on the  
astral plane, begins to explore Tokyo at night.  
  
---  
  
Chapter Two End  
  
  
Author's Notes:  
  
Tannim: Slightly shorter chapter, just sort of getting the filler out  
of the way. Just to let you know, I supplied all the Japanese  
featured in this story. If you could please correct me on my  
mistakes, I'd be grateful. C&C is always welcome.  
  
Kagato: I know.. Well. Yeah. That Japanese will be going away just as  
Soon as Kagato (Mazoku-type) learns some Japanese... which will be  
soon. Sorry, ya'll. Oh.. good thing pointed out, as well. Setsuna was  
speaking English... though it wasn't stated anywhere. Perfect,  
uncommentable English too, apparently. Sorry about that. Yes.. this  
was fleshing-out and filler stuff.. next chapter, though.. ::evil  
laughter:: Well.. you'll just have to wait and see! C&C Appreciated,  
Flames are highly entertaining, as well. 


	3. Chapter 2 point 5

Truly Krappy Productions Presents: The Lost Chapter!

Selves Inserted

Chapter 2.5

By: Kagato

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. I write this for the free entertainment of others.

---

Kagato, leaving his new home (and the mortal plane) behind, began to explore his new home, Juuban. Being a fan of Anime, and knowing a bit about Sailor Moon (owning the Original Season, and S) he set out to see what information was fact, and how much disinformation he'd stored away in memory.

Juuban on the astral plane was.. weird. He could perceive high amounts of elemental energy (a lot of which was electricity), and under it all there were multiple streams of power. All of Juuban seemed to be resting on a flat whirlpool of magic. It spun slowly, lazily, but some places here and there, various random interruptions in the spiral flow caused semi-violent eddies. He went to one of these, and had himself appear in an empty alley.

Walking out towards the larger road the alley lead away from, he turned left, and began walking down the sidewalk. The few people he passed were silent, though, if they spoke, he probably wouldn't have been able to understand them anyway. Still, he nodded at them politely, and continued on his way towards the anomaly.

Thunder rumbled nearby, and, if Kagato had been able to understand it, a radio was advising that a random storm was brewing, and to expect rain throughout the rest of the night. The crescent moon had already hidden the approaching storm, and now lightning could be seen flashing within the building darkness.

Kagato finally turned down a smaller side street, and then an alley creeping off from that. There, he found the anomaly. A Cardboard box pushed up against a run-down building and hidden from view by an odd-looking dumpster. Quirking his brow, he approached, wondering how a cardboard box could affect ambient magic so violently.

Suddenly, a figure darted out. It was feminine in appearance, though somewhat disfigured. It almost looked like... Kagato's eyes opened in recognition. A youma. Did this mean he and Tannim had appeared during the first season? Or was this a leftover? Considering every Youma the Generals brought with them were destroyed (the Youma of the day/episode) by the Sailor Senshi, it wasn't likely. But then, there were gaps in time between episodes. So theoretically, a few youma could have been summoned, and not all destroyed.

With a sigh, Kagato realized there wasn't much information to work with, and he had other things to deal with, now. The youma was eyeballing him hungrily. On the astral plane, the youma's silhouette gestured for a moment, and suddenly, a tendril of darkness reached out towards Kagato. Frowning, he moved his astral body over it, his physical projection rising to hover a couple meters above the ground as well.

The tendril stopped, and withered away after a moment. Kagato watched it from his spot in the air, and the Youma looked back at him, fear emanating from its astral body now. He decided to try attacking. He'd learned movement, and was getting better at it all the time, but here was an opportunity to use an offensive power.

The Youma turned to run, only to find Kagato standing before it, now. "Ah-ah," Kagato teased, "You had your chance, now it's mine."

On the astral plane, Kagato concentrated, and then activated the feeding power he'd kept repressed. The youma's fear leapt from its body to his, and he could feel power building up inside him. It didn't feel like being wide-awake, and he couldn't feel the power leaping from fingertip to fingertip (seeing as how he'd withdrawn from the mortal plane, he had no fingertips upon which power would leap), it was just... a feeling of power.

Concentrating focused it, though not too sharply. He then tried to release it at the Youma.

The Mercury computer, always scanning, picked up something hadn't detected in a while. Dark Kingdom energy, Mid-power Youma-type. An anomalous energy source was also detected nearby, but wasn't a known type of energy. Suddenly, though, the Youma's energy shifted, and the anomalous reading began absorbing the energy at a fantastic rate. The Mercury Computer noted that the youma's power levels dropped to dangerously low (For a youma), and the Anomaly had actually gained power exponentially.

Then, there was a flash of magic the Computer somewhat recognized. It was on a different magical wavelength than was standard for the Moon Kingdom, but there was a 97.3 probability that this was a distress beacon.

Ami Mizuno stared at the Mercury Computer's display intently. A moment ago, it had begun registering magic of a type most commonly associated with a foe they (the Senshi) had vanquished quite a while ago. Then, someone or something had attacked the youma, almost to the point of death, before calling for help. She thought for a moment that it was genuine, but reason shouted out to her that this was most likely a trap. Still, a Beacon recognizable as such to the Mercury Computer was still a beacon. Thankful her mother was working late at the hospital tonight, she called the others on her communicator, and gave them the location. Then, pocketing the computer, she scribbled a short note to explain her absence, and walked out the door, locking it behind her.

Kagato was annoyed. He'd wasted most of the energy in a pointless blast that apparently did nothing at all. The Youma was leaning against the wall, weakened by the drain of energy it'd had to endure. Kagato tried to build up and focus the remaining energy, and tried to unleash it in a more controlled blast. Something, however, seemed to be approaching him from the other side of the youma. The blast he'd been powering up died out, the energy transferring from its volatile state to his own energy, his body converting it to his own type without conscious thought. He used this energy to appear on the mortal plane again, standing near the entrance to the alley. A moment later, one of the Senshi ran into view, moving faster than he'd seen any other human move.

"Sailor Mars." Kagato muttered, staring at her in awe and surprise. On the astral plane, she looked... just like she did on the mortal plane. Apparently, her transformation to Sailor Mars from Rei Hino pulled her into both realms equally. She couldn't see on the astral plane as he could, but anything she threw would hit him no matter where he was. The Youma, seeing Sailor Mars, straightened up, trying to fool her into thinking it was fully powered, and powerful. Mars, however, didn't notice, or didn't care. "Mars Flame Sniper!" she called, firing a blast at the youma. Right before it tore through the weakened creature, the youma's hatred-filled gaze settled on the slightly grinning Kagato.

Once the Youma was destroyed, Sailor Mars realized there was someone else in the alley with her. If Sailor moon were here, Rei knew she'd have had to wait for Usagi to finish her speech, posing, and acting, and then watch as Sailor Moon attacked and killed the youma with love. Mars was tired, cranky. Getting the call that a youma'd been reported didn't make her any happier, and, having been the first one here, she didn't feel like giving a speech, posing, or acting. She'd just fried it, so she could get back to sleep. However, there was somebody here, watching her, and something about him wasn't quite right.

She looked at him, and, although she couldn't see it, she could feel he had power. Dark power. She glared at him, and waited for him to condemn himself.

"Umm. Hello, Sailor Mars. You don't know me, but I know you and.. Ehh.. I mean you no harm!" Kagato said, not liking the way her gaze had turned on him. Senshi of Fire was right. "I come in peace!" he said, loudly, holding his hands up in the air non-threateningly.

Sailor Mars was even more annoyed. This guy wasn't acting dangerous, but nothing he said made sense. She knew it was English, and she recognized her name and 'peace,' though she didn't know what context he'd used it in.

"Who are you?" She asked slowly, hoping he knew some Japanese. He frowned a little, and rubbed his chin in thought. She waited, tapping her foot impatiently, as he repeated what she'd said under his breath. Finally, he looked at her again.

"My name is Kagato," he said, haltingly. She nodded, once. Apparently, he knew a little bit of Japanese. She decided to tell him who she was. "Sailor Mars," she said, knowing he'd understand the words, if not the true meaning. The figure, Kagato, grinned, and shook his head.

The next thing he said shocked the sleep right out of her. He pointed at her, and said "Rei Hino." The skies opened up then.

Before she could shout, scream, demand, or deny, he waved at her, a peace sign, and grinned at her a little more. "Bye, Miss Rei." He called to her, before disappearing into thin air. Rain fell around her, cold and wet. Rei stood there, stunned. A couple minutes later, when Sailors Venus and Moon arrived, they found her still staring at the wall he'd been leaning against, wet, miserable, and, though she'd never admit it aloud, she was scared.

---

-Kagato

... ohyeah...C&C appreciated!


	4. Chapter 3

Selves Inserted  
  
  
Disclaimer: We do not own Trigun, Slayers, or Sailor Moon. Please do  
not sue us.  
  
  
Chapter Three  
  
---  
  
Tannim yawned sleepily as he sat up in place, a skill borne of long  
practice sleeping on couches, where one not able to sleep without  
moving about routinely fell onto the floor. A second yawn popped his  
ears. Finally, he opened his eyes to find his familiar world  
completely changed.  
  
The quick adrenalin surge was not reflected in Tannim's reaction to  
the situation, which was to simply not move. A few more seconds of  
careful reflection revealed to his sleep-clouded mind the memories of  
exactly why things were the way they were.  
  
Oh yeah. Got sucked into an anime world. Kinda forgot about that.  
  
---  
  
A quick shower, and a change into some normal-looking clothes later,  
found Tannim standing in front of Kagato's door and knocking on it.  
  
"C'mon, Kagato, we've got to get going if we're going to see Pluto."  
  
Kagato had debated taking a shower, then shrugged, and teleported a  
couple feet away while making sure he left the dirt and dust he'd  
gathered over the past evening was left in his original position.  
With a grin, he opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind  
him.  
  
"I wouldn't go around calling Setsuna by her 'other' name, just yet,  
Tannim. She might have a bad reaction... and I don't want to be on  
the receiving end of a Dead Scream if I can help it." Kagato turned  
towards the elevators, but right before walking into the closed doors,  
he disappeared.  
  
Tannim smacked himself upside the head. "Right. Gotta stop doing  
that."  
  
Kagato's voice, from nowhere in particular, happily says, "Since this  
is the first time I've heard you do it, I'll let it slide..."  
  
Tannim eyed the surrounding area warily. "Since when did I answer to  
you? You're not my boss."  
  
"Heh," was the only reply.  
  
---  
  
Tannim was unsurprised at seeing Kagato standing calmly by the  
elevator, obviously waiting for him. The smirk was starting to get  
irritating, though.  
  
Kagato's smirk grew into a grin, almost as if he could sense Tannim's  
irritation. Then Tannim realized: he probably 'could'.  
  
Kagato waited for Tannim to move again. Once he did, they walked over  
towards a couple benches conveniently located so that one sitting  
could watch the desk man and the door.  
  
A moment later, Kagato spotted Setsuna walking towards them from his  
vantage point on the astral plane. She wasn't physically there, as  
Rei (as Sailor Mars), had been last night, but there was obviously  
something magical spiraling her astral presence.  
  
A few moments later, she reached the building, climbing the steps  
quickly.  
  
Tannim perked up as he spied Setsuna slide in through the front door.  
In a flash he was over by her side, hands clasped in a supplication of  
prayer, eyes gleaming wetly with unshed tears.  
  
"Oh, I'm so happy to see you again!" he gushed.  
  
Setsuna removed any indication of emotion from her face. Inside, a  
myriad of emotions played within her, struggling for domination.  
Finally, she settled on suffering annoyance.  
  
"I hope you are prepared for your first day of school," she said,  
voice carefully controlled.  
  
Kagato felt something crawling down the back of his head, and a second  
later, he realized he'd just sweat dropped. His grin drooped a bit,  
and when he saw (in more ways than one) Setsuna's smug attitude  
increase as she watched him recover, his grin shrank even more.  
  
"School? Already? I thought we'd at least have one or two days to  
get used to actually being here. What, with the time change, and new  
location, and... umm... other stuff that makes for good excuses..." he  
turned to Tannim, hoping he'd join in.  
  
Tannim's eyes were burning with an inner fire as he stared deeply into  
Setsuna's eyes, mere inches from her face. "My first students?  
Teaching new things to them they have not learned before? It shall be  
an honor and a privilege to do such a thing!" He clasped Setsuna's  
hand to his chest. "Let us go right now to the school so that we may  
help teach these young and able minds!"  
  
Letting go of Setsuna's hand, Tannim dashed out the front door, fist  
held high in determination.  
  
A few moments later, he came back, grinning sheepishly.  
  
"I forgot I don't know where the school is from here... heh heh."  
  
Kagato just stared at his demented tutoring partner, and sighed. "Lead  
the way, Sai-" he caught himself, and covered it with a cough,  
"SEtsuna." He grinned at her, and waited for her to lead them towards  
the school.  
  
Setsuna glanced at Kagato with an inscrutable gaze, and then looked  
back at the sheepishly grinning Tannim. She appeared to debate  
something in her mind for a few moments, before turning toward the  
door and walking out it.  
  
"I guess we follow," muttered Tannim.  
  
---  
  
As they approached the school, Kagato began to worry. Sure, he'd  
applied for this job in his world... but now that he was here, how was  
he going to handle being asked questions by people who spoke a  
language he couldn't even understand the basics of?  
  
With a sigh, he resigned himself to having to cram, and learn as fast  
as he can, so the students, HIS students, wouldn't think he was  
ignorant, or uncaring.  
  
After he'd realized he'd gained all the powers (and, he annoyingly-  
noted, weaknesses) of a Mazoku, he had worried he would loose his  
humanity to it. So far, however, he'd felt the urge to be evil,  
sadistic, and generally unpleasant, but it hadn't been a Need. Some  
days back in his world, he'd felt more inclined to do wrong than he  
did now. So, either the change was only physical, or he'd been a  
Mazoku mentally since he'd been born.  
  
Glancing over at Tannim, however, worried him that the effects might  
advance to affecting him mentally at some future point.  
  
'Well,' he thought, 'I'll burn that bridge when I get to it....'  
  
Setsuna lead the two men into the area where the teacher's desks were  
located. Several teachers were in here, preparing for the rest of the  
day during the lunch hour. Computers were at most of the desks. She  
pointed to a small space, empty of a computer. "That'll be your work  
area, where you two can store and grade papers. You'll share, since  
we don't have much available space." She pointed at a balding middle-  
age man, hunched over at one of the computers. "This is Yoshieda-  
sensei, the English teacher. You'll help grade the papers, and  
provide tutoring after school. You'll follow his instructions."  
  
Kagato just nodded, before walking over to the English Teacher. After  
a moment of uncertainty, he decided to bow a little, like everyone  
does on TV. Then he extended his hand, hoping to make a good  
impression.  
  
Yoshieda-sensei smiled as he saw the two young men. He bowed slightly  
and shook Kagato's hand. In halting English, he said, "It isu my  
preasure tou meet you."  
  
Setsuna gave a small sigh. "As you can see, we needed English tutors  
badly."  
  
Kagato blinked, but returned the smile. "This... ought to be  
interesting. I'm looking forward to working with you all... and am  
hoping that, as I help the students with their English, both the  
students and you can help me with my Japanese."  
  
The teacher looked a bit lost at Kagato's speech, but quickly nodded  
anyways. "Yes. Ou course. Prease, the hirst crass is desu way."  
  
Grinning, Tannim glanced at Setsuna carefully out of the corner of his  
eye. His mind searched for answers to the question: why? Why were  
they qualified to teach here, by her standards? They apparently  
already had some sort of background in this world. What was it?  
  
Tannim shrugged. He supposed he'd find out sooner or later.  
  
Following a few feet behind the teacher, Kagato glanced at the clean  
halls, many doors, and the students who were currently outside; they  
were on their lunchtime break from learning. Not too many were  
feeling much other than boredom.  
  
The small group entered one of the classes, and the teacher sat down  
the book he was carrying. He motioned to the two men to sit down in  
some nearby seats at the head of the class. The bell rang to single  
the end of lunch, and the students filed back into their classrooms.  
  
Kagato watched each student on the astral plane, but kept his mortal-  
projection oblivious-looking. A few moments later, he saw someone  
come in with a magical aura similar to the one he'd seen on Ami and  
Setsuna. Opening one eye a crack, he realized it was Makoto, and she  
was staring at Tannim and him; unlike the other students, who would  
glance, shrug, and sit down. A moment later, she turned and sat down,  
trying to act uncaring, but keeping an eye on them as much as she  
could.  
  
Tannim was waving cheerfully as the students entered, gleefully  
smiling all the while.  
  
The young men and women settled in as usual. The class leader led the  
students in bowing toward the teacher. Yoshieda-sensei motioned  
toward the two young men, and said in Japanese, "These are Tannim and  
Kagato, some new tutors from America. Please show them proper  
respect."  
  
Kagato just nodded at the class, smiling, eyes closed, and watching  
Makoto on the astral plane.  
  
Tannim leapt up from his seat, eyes blazing and fist clenched. "It is  
on honor to be here!" he proclaimed. "I shall make it my personal  
goal in life to make sure every student within my care is happy and  
knows how to speak English! This I swear to you!"  
  
Everyone stared blankly at Tannim, as he had spoken in rapid-fire  
English, and most of the students couldn't follow along past the first  
few words.  
  
Kagato face-faulted.  
  
Climbing back to his feet (not wanting to teleport and freak the  
monster-wary class out) he stared at Tannim, before sitting back in  
his chair. How he'd managed to fall on his face while he was leaning  
back was beyond him, but he shrugged it off, and wondered what the  
class would have thought of Tannim's stupid speech had they understood  
it. Thankfully, almost all he could detect from them was confusion.  
  
Thus began Kagato's and Tannim's first day of teaching.  
  
---  
  
Both men had different styles of tutoring. Tannim, despite his  
initial outburst, seemed to have an infinite amount of patience as he  
carefully gauged each student, noting who would need extra tutoring.  
  
Kagato's methods were a bit more forced, as he didn't know any  
conversational Japanese. Still, he corrected people where he could,  
and tried to pick up as much Japanese as he could while he tutored.  
  
After their rather loud introduction, the teacher had asked Kagato and  
Tannim to take each student aside one by one, and compile a list of  
people needing their tutelage, or able to assist the tutors in their  
tutoring.  
  
Kagato managed to get to Makoto before Tannim, though he'd noticed  
that Tannim had managed to get Naru. Kagato briefly wondered when  
they'd see Umino... or the other Senshi attending the school. While  
evaluating the students, he was surprised to learn that, even with Ami  
and Minako as close friends, Makoto's English was awful.  
  
Classes came and went, Kagato managing to talk to Minako, while Tannim  
helped Ami smooth out her English, and spent a considerable amount of  
time with Usagi trying to get her to say 'this is a pen' correctly.  
  
As with all things that begin, the school day eventually ended.  
  
---  
  
Kagato, at the end of the day, grinned as he walked home.  
  
Actually, he intended to walk out of eyesight of the school and its  
students, before teleporting home.  
  
Still, he figured he could reflect on the day's activities as he  
strolled along. Meeting Minako and Makoto was weird, but kind of  
interesting. He'd tried baiting Makoto into saying "lightning" since  
he knew she knew that word, but her poor grasp of English (and his  
even poorer attempts at saying something in Japanese) killed that  
idea.  
  
Minako, on the other hand, spoke fluent (though accented) English.  
After establishing that, they had conversed until the teacher called  
out that class was almost over. Before she left, Kagato had put her  
name under the "helper" list, and let her know. She'd nodded happily,  
before moving back to her desk.  
  
Kagato glanced over at Tannim, who'd had a long conversation with Ami  
earlier that class period, and gave a 'that-was-interesting' look,  
complete with shrug.  
  
Kagato realized he'd managed to walk halfway back to the Apartment  
building while reminiscing. Frowning at his lapse of attention, he  
teleported back to his place, and sat down, staring out the window.  
  
Tannim wasn't walking so much as floating along. On his face was a  
large, goofy grin, and he absently hummed to himself as he strolled on  
his way toward his new home. He barely registered when Kagato left  
him alone.  
  
"Sensei! Tannim-sensei!"  
  
Tannim turned toward the voice to spot Naru waving at him from across  
the street. He raised a hand in response, finally taking in his  
surroundings. It was a wonder he hadn't noticed it before; Naru's  
family jewelry store was right on his way to his apartment.  
  
"Naru-san! Konnichi-wa!" responded Tannim.  
  
"Matte, sensei!" waved Naru as she began to jog across the street  
toward him. Tannim stopped moving and waited for the girl.  
  
Without realizing it, Naru had stepped in front of a huge truck. The  
driver was having some troubles with home, and had brought a bottle of  
sake with him to work. The reduced reaction due to the alcohol caused  
the driver to run a red light and head on a path right for Naru.  
  
Naru only had time to stare in horror as the truck bore down on her.  
She was frozen to the spot, unable to move; fear locked her limbs in  
place.  
  
From his place twenty feet away, Tannim acted.  
  
In the span of micro-seconds, Tannim's specially-treaded shoes dug  
into the ground as the young man moved at speeds that wouldn't be  
possible for a normal human. Half a second passed, and he was already  
three-quarters of the way there; another half a second and he had  
reached Naru and scooped up the girl into his arms. Despite this  
incredible speed, it still wasn't enough.  
  
Then the truck hit.  
  
Tannim had all of a quarter-second to toss Naru away from him as his  
right side was impacted. Breath rushed from his lungs as the force of  
his body slamming into the grate caused the metal to bend.  
  
The driver finally had the presence of mind to slam on the brakes, but  
by then it was too late.  
  
Tannim was flung fifteen feet from the force of impact. Due to his  
momentum while being hit, he had traveled at an angle, and was sent  
crashing through a nearby store's window. He ended up bloody,  
bleeding, and in a tangle of clothing and mannequin parts.  
  
Coughing up blood, but still clinging onto consciousness somehow,  
Tannim managed to croak out two words.  
  
"Well.... Shit...."  
  
Then the world went dark.  
  
---  
  
  
Chapter Three End  
  
  
Authors Notes:  
  
  
Tannim: Well, the chapters seem to be getting shorter and shorter...  
and the times we can get these out seem to be farther apart. Oh well.  
I hope you enjoyed this installment of the story. Please, send C&C.  
  
  
Kagato: Wow.. I atually managed to get some work done. Feel special..  
or.. something.. maybe.. umm.. I'm just going to go over here now...  
  
.. And I'm spent. literally.. I'm TIRED. So no smart-ass comments,  
really. I've gota get some sleep I have to work tommorow. 


	5. Chapter 4

Selves Inserted  
Brought to you by Truly Krappy (T/K) Productions  
  
"Truly Krappy, never half-assed."  
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon does not belong to us. Slayers does not  
belong to us. Trigun does not belong to us. Sensing a pattern?  
We're not making money off of this. Honest. Please, for the love of  
pizza and Chinese fast-food, do not sue us.  
Warning: Lots of swearing happens due to being hit by a truck. Hell,  
you'd swear too.  
Last time on Selves Inserted: Tannim and Kagato had their first day  
of school. While on his way home from school, Naru spotted Tannim  
from across the street. On her way across the street, a truck failed  
to stop at the stoplight, and was heading on a collision course for  
the high school girl....  
---  
  
Chapter Four  
  
---  
  
Everything was frozen in a moment of time. Naru could see it all  
clearly. As the girl neared death, her senses heightened to a state  
previously thought to be unachievable.  
  
And it irked the girl what exactly her mind decided to notice.  
  
For instance, while she couldn't bring to mind a picture of her own  
mother's smiling face, she could see in perfect clarity the face of  
the driver as he barreled toward her; a mix of dull confusion, bleary  
indifference, and a slight dash of dawning realization thrown in for  
good measure. Her eyes flickered to a bird in flight, watching as the  
creature seemed to move in slow motion, every feather visible in its  
natural glory. Sounds of cut off conversations and the blaring of  
horns failed to disguise from her sharp ears the sobbing of a small  
child as they didn't receive the candy they wanted.  
  
It almost seemed as if her mind was trying to look everywhere except  
for the large truck that was about to kill her.  
  
In fact, her hearing was so good she was able to hear the sound of  
footsteps running at an incredible speed...  
  
...and then she was flying through the air, away from the truck, away  
from danger, rough hands tossing her away from the death she had known  
moments before...  
  
...and then the moment was gone. As if the world was making up for  
lost time, it came rushing at Naru all at once. Sound pounded at her  
ears as pain exploded all along the left side of her body. The once  
crystal clarity her mind had attained was shattered into confusion.  
After a few moments of pure confusion, in which nothing made sense,  
her mind finally settled into a zombie-like state, completely  
reactionary and lethargic to the world in general.  
  
'What had happened?' she wondered, somehow not afraid, merely curious.  
  
Naru looked up to the sight of the truck that nearly hit her slowing  
down. The sound of glass shattering brought her attention to a nearby  
shop's window; or at least where a window would normally be. Instead,  
the gap was framed by serrated pieces of glass.  
  
Something compelled Naru to stand up. She ignored her slight injuries  
as she slowly made her way to the shattered window. It took her a few  
moments to realize what her sub-conscious had been searching for: the  
reason the glass was shattered in the first place.  
  
As if in a trance, Naru stumbled into the opening caused by the broken  
window. She cut her hands on a few pieces of stray glass, but ignored  
the wounds. As she finally got a good look inside the store, the  
picture awaiting her stopped her in her tracks. There was a tangle of  
limbs so confusing that she stopped and stared for a full five seconds  
before realizing that not all the limbs belonged to humans. In fact,  
she could only count four. The rest were fake, belonging to the  
store's mannequins.  
  
Quickly locating the head, the high school girl pulled away several  
garments of a questionable nature to reveal the face of the  
unfortunate person lying in this heap.  
  
It was Tannim.  
  
Naru stared a few moments more at the face of her tutor, still in  
shock over the recent events. It was the face of someone resting  
peacefully, the kind of peace one only attains after living a good  
long while in life, then finally dying, escaping the pain that life  
held.  
  
Tannim's eyes suddenly jerked opened.  
  
"SONOVABITCH!"  
  
The words acted as well as a slap to pull Naru out of her trance, and  
she visibly flinched at the shout.  
  
"This godDAMN fucking hurts!" cried the young man as he struggled to  
sit upright.  
  
Naru stared dumbly as the person she had previously thought dead  
suddenly wake up and complain very loudly that life was still... what  
where those words he had just used? "Bitingu me in ta assu?"  
  
"Holy mother-loving shitting piles of pussbuckets!" Tannim swore as he  
managed to stand up despite the numerous cuts and bruises throughout  
his body. "This goddamn FUCKING hurts!"  
  
"Sensei..." mumbled Naru through her shock.  
  
"This goddamn fucking HURTS! It feels as if I've got a piece of glass  
wedged in my side." Tannim paused to roam a hand over his left side,  
jerking in pain as it came in contact with a piece of glass that was,  
indeed, lodged in his body. With great deliberation he slowly  
withdrew the shard, inch by painful inch. What was only three inches  
seemed like an eternity of pain.  
  
"Oh, that was very so much pain. Ever so much pain. Pain so much  
hurt. Need heal." Clenching his eyes against the waves of pain,  
Tannim whimpered.  
  
Naru finally snapped into action. "[We have to get you to a hospital,  
sensei! You're hurt badly!]"  
  
Tannim's mind was a little bit fuzzy by this point, clouded by the  
extreme amount of pain he was in. However, he still had the presence  
of mind to realize one important fact: hospitals would be BAD.  
  
Vash the Stampede aka the Humanoid Typhoon was not, despite his looks,  
entirely human. Tannim was also currently Vash's second, unknown  
brother. Even if Tannim didn't know the entire story, he knew enough  
to worry about what x-rays might see, and what the doctors would say  
if they found out his organs might not be in their correct places.  
  
So avoiding hospitals is a must in any long-term survival plans; even  
if he would have loved to get a generous helping of morphine.  
  
"[No... hospital. Hospital bad.]"  
  
Naru was extremely confused by what her sensei was saying, but didn't  
question his judgment.  
  
Sirens began to fill the air as the emergency vehicles, after  
determining it wasn't a youma attack, decided to come in and try to  
help those who might be injured.  
  
"[...police bad,]" managed Tannim as he began to stagger away. He  
managed three steps before nearly collapsing back on the ground, saved  
only by the quick action of Naru.  
  
The high school girl pointed toward the back door of the shop. "[That  
way.]"  
  
Tannim, too tired to argue, simply nodded in agreement.  
  
---  
  
"[Let me get this straight. You're telling me that a man across the  
street managed to run so fast as to reach the girl in a split second,  
then get hit by the truck himself and flung through that,]" the  
officer waved his hand toward the broken window, "[over there, and  
then he,]" the officer checked his notes, "['got up and walked away'  
from all that?]"  
  
The witness nodded mutely.  
  
"[Okay, thank you for your assistance. We'll be contacting you should  
we need your help or testimony in this case.]"  
  
The witness nodded a second time, before quickly walking off.  
  
A second police officer walked toward the first one. "[So, what's the  
verdict?]"  
  
"[Call in section forty-three.]"  
  
The second officer looked surprised. "[But I thought this wasn't a  
monster attack.]"  
  
"[It wasn't. And if you'd like to keep your job, you don't want to  
know all the details,]" said the first officer as he sighed.  
  
"[All right, all right,]" spoke the second officer as he raised his  
hands in a gesture of supplication. "[Those spooks down in section  
forty-three gonna be happy with what you're gonna tell 'em?]"  
  
"[I doubt it.]"  
  
---  
  
The craft hung suspended in orbit above the third planet from the sun.  
Its metal surface glinted dully in the sunlight as highly advanced  
technology scanned the planet below, while making sure the craft  
itself was not seen by the natural inhabitants.  
  
These creatures from another world do not speak English, or Japanese,  
or any language even vaguely recognizable to anyone on earth. It was  
a language filled with trills, grunts, and clicks that would grate on  
the ears of the most hardened rock junkie. In fact, if one were to  
actually put the words down in text, that text would most likely try  
to commit suicide from the sheer awfulness of all those vowels and  
consonants linked together in 'that' particular manner. For the sake  
of all creatures living on that poor planet, the words of the aliens  
have been translated.  
  
"Radio signals off the charts, delta-savage-team-coordinator-sir!"  
  
To correctly give the name of the person who had just spoken seventy-  
nine pages would have needed to be typed out. For now, this creature  
shall simply be known as 'Beak'.  
  
Another one hundred and eighty-four pages would have been needed to  
correctly name the person who sighed in response to Beak's words, but  
their name can simply be shortened to 'Talon'.  
  
"Check for viewing crystal frequencies, like we've done a hundred  
times before. Not those stupid radio signals. I don't understand why  
you like listening to those ghastly broadcasts from every planet we  
come to. There aren't any pictures."  
  
"Viewing crystal wavelengths found! Putting on screen now, delta-  
savage-team-coordinator-sir!"  
  
The screen, which to Beak was referring, stood ten times higher than  
the aliens watching it. It suddenly filled to overflowing with color  
as it tried to show every television broadcast on the planet all at  
once.  
  
"Set to receive only in our vicinity!" snapped out Talon's orders.  
  
"Aye aye, delta-savage-team-coordinator-sir. Narrowing band to the  
island we are currently orbiting."  
  
A manageable set of squares were now displayed on the screen.  
  
"Search for usual predators. These stupid civilizations are all the  
same: once they eradicate their natural predators, they relax, and  
remember their former foes through re-creations."  
  
Hours later, a frustrated Talon slammed a limb on the consol in front  
of it. "Are you telling me they have NO visuals of creatures  
defeating them? All are victories? Surely there must be something  
that can kill these pink-skinned creatures!"  
  
Beak hesitated. "Sir? There seems to be an unusual energy band  
coming from what appears to be a small hole in space-time. Shall I  
put it on the screen?"  
  
"Do it."  
  
The screen now filled with horrors unimagined, even by the battle-  
hardened warriors that had scoured countless worlds clean in their  
quest for new planets to populate. They paled in comparison to the  
previous data that had already been gathered from other worlds;  
nothing they had seen was this vile, gruesome, and terrible.  
  
Even as Talon was disgusted by the vile displays shown, he was  
satisfied that their search had ended. "Perfect. Re-create the  
beings and send them down for a trial run on the island we are  
orbiting."  
  
"Aye aye, delta-savage-team-coordinator-sir. Replicating and  
transporting underway."  
  
Meaningless symbols flashed on the screen before the two aliens.  
  
'Sci-Fi Channel's Horror Week.'  
  
---  
  
Somehow, Tannim had managed to stop the bleeding.  
  
Naru and Tannim had stumbled their way through the back allies of the  
business district as they headed toward Tannim's current abode. It  
had taken the better part of an hour, with frequent rests, in order  
for the duo to finally reach their destination. The building's  
majestic form rising before them was ignored for simply concentrating  
on putting one foot in front of the other.  
  
The personnel on duty saw a man staggering with a young schoolgirl  
toward the elevators... and then forgot they ever saw a thing.  
Discretion was one of the things their residents paid for in their  
admittedly expensive rents.  
  
After fumbling for the key, and opening the door, Tannim was starting  
to get the hang of the whole 'shock' thing. His face was deathly  
white as he stumbled the short distance to his futon. He collapsed  
onto the blankets, not bothering to even attempt to climb underneath  
the covers.  
  
Naru had taken the time to shut and lock the door after Tannim's  
collapse. She checked up on her tutor; that shade of white didn't  
look too good.  
  
What were those things she had read on this kind of situation? After  
a person had lost a lot of blood, they generally got cold, and needed  
to heat up and make more blood. Or something. The way Tannim was  
shivering like that, even unconscious, couldn't be good.  
  
Firming her resolve, Naru figured that the best way to help the person  
who had saved her life would be to help him warm up. And the best way  
to warm that person up would be to climb into bed with them.  
  
---  
  
Tannim was dreaming.  
  
In the dream, he had two separate states of being. One was the person  
immersed totally in the dream, unaware of anything but the moment.  
The other was the part of him detached from the dream, the memory that  
knew who everyone was and what that implied.  
  
In his dream the only person he was truly aware of was Hotaru. This  
wasn't the Hotaru Tomoe of his memories; a young, fragile girl with no  
friends and a dismal outlook on life. This Hotaru was older, more  
refined. The smile came more readily to her face as she laughed at  
some unknown joke he couldn't remember telling. There were others in  
the background, but they were shadows, unimportant. Only Hotaru  
mattered, and that is the only person the dream-Tannim acknowledged  
existing besides himself.  
  
The part of Tannim that knew what was going on without being told  
realized that he and Hotaru had been friends, and were now comfortably  
joking and talking as they were walking along. However, this wasn't  
Hotaru, as she would be known as she was reborn. This was, in fact,  
Sailor Saturn, one of the most feared people in the Moon Kingdom.  
  
Why he was acting like close friends with her, the detached-Tannim  
didn't know. The dream-Tannim didn't care.  
  
Suddenly the dream turned into a nightmare.  
  
Tannim felt the cold, sharp sensation of his neck being separated from  
his shoulders. His mind idly catalogued the feeling of being beheaded  
as his head flew from his body to roll and finally come to rest.  
Amazingly, he had not awoken; death held no meaning to him.  
  
The last moments of his vision were filled with Hotaru being pushed  
down and held by some evil force. The detached-Tannim realized the  
force was female.  
  
"Now that your friend is dead, you're next." The husky voice  
gloated over Hotaru's prone body.  
  
Then, the world went white....  
  
---  
  
Through the gaps between skyscrapers, sunlight crawled its way down  
the sides of Tannim and Kagato's Apartment building, eventually  
shining through the formers' windows.  
  
Kagato, not having to sleep, had spent the night out, this time  
listening to the locals speak as much as possible, hoping it would  
help him pick up the language faster. He'd learned a few new words,  
and a couple of the more common phrases down, but these language-  
finding quests would have to continue for some time. Of course, he  
could probably also get some true tutoring from someone at school.  
  
He chuckled, then, thinking it ironic to have to ask Ami or Minako for  
help, as a tutor. The mirth, however, wore off when he felt Tannim  
wake up on the astral plane, and the pain he was radiating.  
  
---  
  
Tannim jolted awake, the nightmare forcing him out of sleep in his  
attempt to save Hotaru. An arm reached out in a futile gesture before  
the pain registered, and he had to drop the appendage.  
  
He tried to sit up, only to fall back down, groaning, his entire body  
one large mass of excruciating pain. His side was the worst; instead  
of the dull ache coming from the rest of his body, the sharp pain was  
so terrible that the shard of glass might as well still be there.  
  
Naru turned in her sleep, disturbed by the sudden movement, but not  
enough to be woken. An arm came down on Tannim's chest as she moved.  
  
The pain of the contact caused Tannim's eyes to bulge. A long hiss  
escaped Tannim's lips as he tried to keep from crying out. After a  
few moments, the torture receded to bearable levels.  
  
"Owie..." Tannim whimpered softly.  
  
---  
  
Kagato briefly considered teleporting there to see what was wrong, but  
then noticed there were two distinct figures in Tannim's bed. His  
eyes widened in surprise, and his jaw dropped a bit. Then, he thought  
about Tannim, and realized that what he was thinking was probably not  
quite right.  
  
Still... it was a good thing he hadn't teleported in there like he'd  
intended. Kagato quickly did his teleport-shower, and appeared  
outside Tannim's door.  
  
He would just have to find out what was going on.  
  
---  
  
Tannim's eyes flew open at the loud knock on the door. He fearfully  
glanced down at his sleeping companion, watching for any hint of  
movement. None were forthcoming.  
  
Moments later, a second, louder knock sounded from the door. This  
time, Naru began to stir.  
  
"Erk!" convulsed Tannim as Naru shifted all her weight on the arm  
already on his chest. The sleepy girl looked at the form of Tannim  
underneath her arm. A few seconds later, comprehension finally dawned  
in her eyes.  
  
"EEEK!" Naru screamed in reflex.  
  
"Heh." Kagato grinned. "This... ought to be interesting." He waited  
for the door to open.  
  
Tannim groaned as Naru finally shifted her weight off his chest.  
"[Please be quiet. Someone is in the door,]" he muttered in Japanese.  
  
Naru paused for the few moments it took to translate this. "[Someone  
is at the door?]" she asked.  
  
A small nod confirmed her question.  
  
"[What should we do?]" she asked pensively.  
  
"[Might be Kagato,]" mumbled Tannim in barely passable Japanese,  
"[open door.]"  
  
Naru gave a nod, stood up, and walked over to the doorway. She opened  
it a crack, peering out. "Ohayoo?"  
  
Kagato's eyelid twitched. "Umm... 'oissu' or something to that  
effect, I think.." he muttered, hoping she could understand the  
interjected Japanese word. Then he took a closer look. "Moll...  
err... Naru?"  
  
"Hai." Naru opened the door fully. "Kagato-san, Tannim-san," she  
paused for a moment, struggling to remember the English words Tannim  
used to describe his situation, "goddammu fakingu herutsu is." She  
turned and pointed to the prone form of Tannim.  
  
"...." Kagato had to pause to piece that one together. When he  
finally did, he started laughing. Looking at Tannim the way he could,  
he could tell he'd seriously injured the left side of his abdomen.  
However, looking more intently, he could see some weaker magic  
(compared to what he'd seen around town) healing Tannim's wounds. He  
turned to Naru. "Hai. Tannim-baka is hurt. However... he should get  
better... eventually."  
  
He turned to Tannim. "Translate that, if you could... and tell me...  
how do you say 'keen' in Japanese?"  
  
Carefully raising an arm, Tannim clenched his fist, held the back of  
his hand toward Kagato, and raised his middle finger.  
  
Kagato pulled down his eyelid with a finger, and stuck out his tongue  
at Tannim. "Biiii."  
  
Naru looked confused at the interaction between the two boys.  
  
"Gawd, what time is it? Don't we have school today?" asked Tannim  
from his position on the floor.  
  
"Yep!" Kagato beamed. He was about to teleport, when he realized  
that Tannim would be really late if he walked. But to teleport him,  
he'd have to figure out what to do with Naru. He thought for a  
moment, before shrugging.  
  
"Tannim, tell Naru that she can't tell anybody about our secret  
powers."  
  
"Sore wa himitsu desu?" quoted Tannim wryly. "I don't know how to say  
'secret powers' in Japanese, Kag. They didn't exactly cover that in  
class."  
  
"Himitsu?" questioned Naru.  
  
"...okay then. When I finish teleporting, point to me, and tell her  
that. So she knows what we're talking about." Kagato teleported a  
couple of times around the room. Naru grew pale as he disappeared and  
reappeared seemingly at random.  
  
"Aw, fuck," muttered Tannim. He cried out, "[It's all right, it's all  
right! He's a good guy!]" in hopes of calming Naru. "[That is the  
secret. You know, like Sailor Moon?]"  
  
Naru seemed to calm down at the name. "[Like Sailor Moon?]"  
  
"[Yeah, like her,]" nodded Tannim. "[Without the schoolgirl  
clothing.]"  
  
Kagato frowned upon hearing Sailor Moon being mentioned, but trusted  
Tannim not to make him out to be an idiot. Finally, when their  
conversation died, he asked Tannim, "How do you say 'to school?'"  
  
Naru perked up at the words. "Tu skuulu?"  
  
Kagato grinned. "Hai!" he teleported from one side of the room to the  
other, then pointed to her and Tannim. "To school."  
  
He then pointed to the wall clock behind her, which said they had 7  
minutes to get to school.  
  
Finally, he pointed to the three of them, teleported, and said,  
"Hayaku, to school."  
  
Naru nodded in understanding.  
  
"That's just dandy," muttered Tannim as he shakily stood up. "A guy  
just can't catch a break, can he?" Naru moved to help Tannim stand,  
but he waved the girl off. "If you could teleport me into some new  
clothes, that'd be great. These are kinda covered in blood."  
  
"...get changed," Kagato said flatly. "YOU can be a little late.  
Naru can't. I'm going to take her home, so she can change, and then  
take her to school. I'll be back for you in a moment."  
  
Tannim muttered imprecations as Kagato teleported with Naru in tow.  
  
Six minutes, fifty seconds later, Kagato reappeared. By then, Tannim  
was wearing his Vash outfit, complete with yellow-tinted sunglasses.  
The only change in the outfit was that the holster and gun was hidden  
inside the coat, instead of being located on Tannim's right hip.  
  
"Naru's in the ladies room near her class," explained Kagato. "I'll  
get you to the closet near our desks. I'll go to the men's room, and  
we'll only be a couple minutes late... sound good?"  
  
A nod. "Let's rock."  
  
---  
  
Kagato's teleport was right on the money, and Tannim found himself in  
the closet next to the teachers' desks. He shook his head sharply to  
clear the effects of teleportation, only to receive a sharp pain  
reminding him he wasn't back up to full health for his troubles.  
  
"Shit. I hate pain," muttered Tannim as he fumbled about in the dark  
closet. It took the young man several moments before realizing he was  
facing the back. Silently thanking no one could see him, he turned  
around and fumbled for the mechanism that would set him free from this  
dusty confine.  
  
Tannim's hand finally closed on the knob. He turned the device and  
pushed the door.  
  
It moved an entire inch before stopping.  
  
Tannim hesitated.  
  
He gave the door a quicker push, and heard a rattling of metal in  
response. It still held shut.  
  
Yep, the closet was definitely locked.  
  
"Um... Kagato? Sensei? Anybody?"  
  
Silence.  
  
"Help?"  
  
---  
  
After dropping Tannim off, Kagato quickly teleported behind his desk,  
waiting for those around him to turn away before silently appearing.  
  
"Good morning!" he called out, surprising a few of the people closer  
to him.  
  
Watching the locked door of the closet, he wondered how long he should  
wait to let Tannim out, before finally deciding that, despite the  
hilarity that would undoubtedly ensue, it would probably make the two  
tutors look bad.  
  
Standing up, Kagato quickly crossed the room and opened the door,  
waiting for the moment Tannim tried to elbow it open, so instead, his  
companion stumbled out into the room.  
  
Tannim blinked quickly at the sudden light. The pain at his side had  
been receding faster than he knew what should have been possible, but  
it still managed to make him wince as he caught himself from falling  
down. The young man blinked owlishly at Kagato as his mind tried in  
vain for something witty to say.  
  
Turning his back to Tannim, Kagato made his way back to his desk,  
sitting down and looking down at the syllabus resting there. Quirking  
his brow at the kanji, katakana, and hiragana scattered about the  
page, he does his best to read the English here and there, but  
couldn't make too much out. Finally shrugging, he just nodded his  
head as if he understood it, and sat it back down.  
  
"You understand it all, then?" a voice asked from behind Kagato. He  
started to nod before realizing it wasn't Tannim. Spinning, he  
recognized Setsuna, and smiled. Still nodding, he cheerfully  
proclaimed, "Not a thing!"  
  
Setsuna's small, knowing smile froze in place as the rest of the face  
seemed to melt away from the expression. "Make sure that you read the  
entire book by the end of the week." She turned to look at Tannim.  
"What were you doing in the supply closet?"  
  
Tannim froze for an instant as his mind went into overdrive. Years of  
experience in dodging his parents and teachers came to the fore as he  
constructed a lie that would fit all the facts, yet sound convincing.  
  
"Well, I was so excited about teaching my new students, I came to  
school a bit early, but since it was still dark and no one was here I  
decided to take a nap and I didn't want to inconvenience anyone by  
sleeping in their space so I decided it would be best if I slept in  
the closet but when I woke up it was locked and so here I am," Tannim  
finished in a rush.  
  
Setsuna gave Tannim a suspicious look.  
  
Looking down at the book, Kagato just stared, wondering how he'd  
handle learning something he couldn't read. Turning to Setsuna, he  
asked "Setsuna... sensei? Umm... is there anyone here who can help me  
brush up on my Japanese?"  
  
Setsuna's eyes flashed with mirth as she looked at Kagato. "If there  
aren't any injured students needing my attention, I'm free everyday  
after school until five."  
  
"All right, then. I'll... stop by." Looking back down at the items,  
he flipped idly through the book, reading the few pages of English he  
could find, and wondering how best to assist people with this.  
---  
  
Chapter Four End  
  
---  
Authors' Notes:  
  
Kagato: Back from (what felt like) a thousand-year slumber, eh  
Tannim? Ah well.. It's time to get that ball a rolling, once again.  
Next time, in Selves Inserted, watch for some stuff to happen.. and..  
umm.. go Tannim.  
  
Tannim: Truth be told, I've been busy. Damn, I've always hated  
authors who use that line to get away from writing more, but now that  
it applies to me... well, lets just say I'm a bit more forgiving. I  
think this is slightly larger than what we normally used to put out,  
mostly because I combined a side-story I was supposed to be doing with  
the actual chapter. It seemed to work out better that way. I'll also  
be working on getting the first couple of chapters together and re-  
written without all that pesky Japanese dialogue. Please, as always,  
feel free to C&C. 


	6. Chapter 5

Selves Inserted

Brought to you by Truly Krappy (T/K) Productions

"Truly Krappy, never half-assed."

Disclaimer: The rights to Sailor Moon, Trigun, and Slayers belong to people other than ourselves. We are not making money off of these characters. Please do not sue us.

---

Chapter Five

---

Tannim looked around the classroom he and Kagato had come to know as their workplace. Kagato had one eye cracked open to read the book before him, and was apparently studying it intently. The teacher, at the moment, was trying to explain how verbs were conjugated, and the students were busy taking notes. At least, most of them were.

Taking a rubber band out of his pocket, Tannim quickly and quietly tore and folded a makeshift missile from his notebook and launched the small piece of paper at the snoozing Usagi. His aim dead-on, the arrow struck her on the nose, and she jerked awake... and backward onto the floor.

"Balancing trouble, Miss Tsukino?" the teacher asked, not bothering to turn around. He'd taught this class long enough to recognize the sounds Usagi often made. She wasn't a bad student, but she needed to study more and sleep less. Thinking a quick thanks to whatever woke her this time around, he continued his lesson.

Kagato, watching all this with little interest, tried hard to grasp the intricacies of Japanese. Smiling softly to himself as Usagi hit the floor, he turned the page, before sighing and looking at the assembled mass of students. Spotting Ami Mizuno studiously writing everything the teacher said or wrote, he wondered if she had her computer on her.

Pulling himself inward on the astral plane, he solidified his energy slowly, a small orb of dark energy appearing between him and the book. A few moments later, an almost inaudible beep came from somewhere near her. Dispelling the sphere quickly, Kagato turned his attention back to his book, his curiosity sated.

After the class was dismissed, the two tutors made their way to their desks, the lunch period in full swing outside. Tannim idly tossed around a wad of paper as he began to speak to Kagato.

"So, Kag, I noticed you eying Ami. Thinking of fulfilling a fan boy fantasy?"

"Honestly, She's not really my type. I wanted to see if she had her computer on her... you know...?"

Another wad of paper joined the first as Tannim continued the conversation. "Yeah, I do. But why would you need to know she had her computer? What good could that information have done you?"

Shrugging noncommittally, Kagato grinned. "Afraid I'm encroaching upon your territory there, lover boy?"

A third wad of paper joined the two, and Tannim begins to juggle the improvised balls effortlessly. "Nah. Just wondering about stuff. I like to know what people are thinking, natural habit, a good one, to get into when your type of people are around."

Kagato nodded, still grinning. "Yep. All those Mazoku back home, you never can be too careful."

Tannim gave a start, and the wads of paper scattered as they fell to the floor. He dropped his head, sighing. "Sorry about that. I'm still adjusting." Then he turned to Kagato. "I just have this nasty feeling at the pit of my stomach that something very, very bad is going to happen. Worse than getting hit by a truck. And it's making me nervous."

Grinning wider, Kagato turned to open an eye and look at Tannim, "I know." Leaning back in the surprisingly comfortable chair, he stretched, and then continued. "There is something weird in the air though. I can't tell what it is, yet, but..." he shrugged.

Setsuna, as if by magic, suddenly appeared next to the two boys. "Tannim. In my office. Now." She then exited just as quickly as she had appeared.

"Heh," Kagato said, watching the two depart. Turning to the other door, he awaited the entrance of the student standing outside talking up her confidence. A moment later, a knock, more forceful than the student would normally use, echoed throughout the office.

"Entrée." Kagato called out in French. The confusion that emanated through the door made Kagato's grin widen. Then he frowned as he realized he had no clue how to say "enter" in Japanese.

"...hai?" he called out, before teleporting over to the door and opening it.

"Ara... Kagato-sensei?"

"Ami... uhh... Mizuno... umm..." Kagato wondered how to address her, finally shrugging. "Can I help you?" he asked in English, speaking a little slower than normal.

"Hai. I... Do you know... are you..." she trailed off, and I quirked a brow as her confidence began to melt. Finally, she spoke.

"Do know anything... bad, in area?" She asked, haltingly. Kagato blinked, and then shrugged mentally. Why not?

"Like the anomaly that set off the Mercury Computer?" Kagato asked.

Ami frowned at this, piecing together the sentence, before staring at him wide eyed. She regained her composure rapidly, but from the astral plane, Kagato could see her confusion, worry, and fear climb steadily.

Kagato sighed, sitting down in a chair. He wondered briefly how to handle this, now that the cat was out of the bag. Being his usual self would probably result in the reception of a Mercury Aqua Rhapsody, something he'd like to avoid, Mazoku or not.

"Can you show me the computer for a moment?" he asked. Ami frowned, and Kagato, sensing her distrust, pointed at her, with a pen he'd picked up off the desk.

"Sailor Mercury. Mizuno Ami." Standing up, he held the pen up, and said "Mercury Planet Power, Make up." Then he turned in a circle, before stopping in a rather poor imitation of Sailor Mercury's post-transformation pose.

Ami, during this, stared, the color draining from her face. Kagato then proceeded to list the attacks he knew of hers, before naming the other Senshi, by both their civilian names, and Senshi names. Finally, he looked at her, and grinned.

"How..." she asked, quietly. Kagato pointed to the desk, "Mercury Computer." Mercury reached into a pocket and pulled the small device out, opening it and setting it down. Staring at the hiragana onscreen, he sighed. Pointing to her, then himself, then the computer, he asked a one-word question, "Translate?"

Ami looked confused, then, as the word registered, she nodded once, before typing something. Frowning at the computer, she pressed a quick button, and then looked at Kagato expectantly.

"Umm... is it ready?" he asked. The computer responded by repeating what Kagato had said in (what he hoped was) Japanese. Ami spoke rapidly, and after she stopped, the computer began speaking in English.

"Yes. Though, I'm quite annoyed that until now the only way I've had to interact with it is through its tiny keyboard."

Kagato chuckled, and then held out his hand, quickly manifesting his energy into a visible ball of blackness. As expected, the computer beeped. However, it also began speaking in both English and Japanese, though how it did that neither knew.

"WARNING, ANOMOLOUS MAGICAL ENERGY PATTERNS DETECTED. RECORDS INDICIATE HIGH PROBABILITY OF NEGATIVE ENERGY MANIFESTATION, IE: MAZOKU WITHIN VICINITY. STRENGTH: UNKNOWN. INTENTIONS: UNKNOWN. RECOMMEND APPROACH WITH EXTREME CAUTION AND BACKUP."

Kagato blinked at that. "My intentions are honorable! And how the heck did that stupid thing know what I am, anyway? There are no Mazoku in this universe!"

"What are Mazoku?" Ami asked.

"I am a Mazoku... at least, since I arrived on this world. Before, I was human, just like you... well... minus your Senshi-ness."

"That doesn't answer my question," Ami said, frowning slightly.

Kagato grinned at her, and then continued, deciding to let most of the truth out. "I... hmm... I just am. I feed on the negative emotions that everyone gives off, and I am the source of power for all spells using black magic. Mazoku aren't native to this universe, however, so I doubt there's any black magic spells... Could you ask that thing how it knows what Mazoku are?"

Ami stared at Kagato, and then asked the computer, slowly. The computer whirred for a moment, before responding, its answer shocking Ami and Kagato to the core.

---

Setsuna pointed toward the cot as Tannim entered. The young man took it as a sign to sit down, so he did.

"All right, off with your coat and shirt."

Tannim blushed as he twirled his fingers around. "Aw, Setsuna-sama, we hardly know each other..."

The green-haired woman huffed. "I merely want to examine you."

As the young man began to disrobe, taking care to keep his revolver hidden, he said, "If that's the way you want to play, I can be a poor, innocent student." His eyes sparkled as he clasped his hands in front of him. "Oh, sensei! I never knew it could BE like this!"

Setsuna rolled her eyes while still managing to look calm and collected. "Stop your foolishness."

It was Tannim's turn to huff. "Fine. Don't let me have any fun," he grumbled as he quickly and efficiently disrobed. Tannim looked up and the next thing he knew Setsuna was there, poking and prodding him with various instruments. The woman nodded in satisfaction as she poked the scab covering the wound on the left side of his body.

"Ouch! That hurts, you know," complained Tannim as he fought to keep his hands from scratching at the wound.

"Where did you get this?"

"Um... I tripped on some stairs?"

"Last I knew, stairs didn't cause puncture wounds."

"They were very mean stairs," lied Tannim as he studiously inspected the ceiling. "They beat me up and stole my lunch money."

Setsuna shook her head. "You should have at least bandaged it up."

Tannim continued his study of ceiling tiles.

The green-haired woman pulled out a roll of bandages and quickly began wrapping them around the young man's body. "If you are not in top physical condition, you will not be able to carry out your duties."

"Oh? And what duties would those be? Protecting the Moon Princess?" Tannim asked with careful calculation.

Setsuna froze. Her eyes swiveled and pierced Tannim with a look of extreme suspicion. The young man returned the gaze with a look of his own, calm and serious.

"We know."

"How?"

"That's not important right now. What's important is that you know we know, and that we're not trying to harm you or the rest of your friends in any way." Tannim sighed. "The information would have come out sooner or later, by some action or misplaced word. I'd rather choose the time and place. This is it." He grumbled under his breath, "and hopefully missing out on the required battle heroes have when meeting each other for the first time." In a louder voice, he continued: "Kagato and I know all about the Sailor Senshi, and the Moon Kingdom. Please, let's go get Kagato so we can talk this over, okay?"

With a subtle nod, and a rather unfriendly frown, Setsuna finished bandaging up the young man before she walked out the door, Tannim right behind her.

---

Chapter Five End

---

Author Notes:

Tannim: Just me this time, I'm afraid. Surprisingly enough, there wasn't a single shred of e-mail concerning chapter four. If you read this series, and take a liking to it, please don't hesitate to send us e-mail, even if it's little bits saying 'this is cool!' or 'stop writing, you guys suck!'.

Experimenting with brackets for Japanese language parts, since the normal 's tend to be interpreted as HTML on If you feel like it, C&C would be helpful. And any e-mail would help us along to continue writing.


	7. Chapter 6

Selves Inserted 

Brought to you by Truly Krappy (T/K) Productions

"Truly Krappy, never half-assed."

Disclaimer: There are no plot holes! None! Oh, and we don't own  
Sailor Moon, Trigun, or Slayers. We also do not make any money off of  
this. If you are a lawyer looking for money, we're both broke, so  
look elsewhere.

Today's story is rated PG-13 for descriptions of things going splat.

---

Chapter Six

---

Ami and Kagato stared silently at the various pictures displayed  
before them. The Mercury Computer continued its monologue in dual  
languages as the two watched on.

"Knowledge of the species was gained when, during the battle of  
Charon, an amplified Silence Glaive Surprise went out of control and  
brought one to this universe from another. The battle ended shortly  
thereafter when the creature used a devastating attack which appears  
to have ripped the souls from all the combatants' bodies."

Ami paled at this, and Kagato grinned. "Sounds like something I'd do  
if someone tries to wake me up before I want to get up... definitely  
would have came in handy at basic training."

"The Combined attack of all the Senshi, along with Queen Serenity and  
most of the Court Sorcerers vanquished the creature. Following the  
event, various individuals around the system gained darker powers then  
they'd previously proven to have, and most went insane shortly  
thereafter.

"The only person to survive was the prince of Saturn, who used the  
power alongside his sister, Sailor Saturn, various times throughout  
the remainder of the Rule of Serenity. The Court Chroniclers and  
Mercurial Scientists all agreed that the influx of black magic was the  
merging of parts of the Mazoku's remnants to the souls of those the  
pieces encountered.

"How Prince Saturn survived this while everyone else did not was never  
understood."

"..." Kagato said, blinking. Ami was still pale, and staring at  
Kagato like he might rip her throat out at any moment. She opened her  
mouth to speak, when suddenly Tannim and Setsuna walked into the room.

Kagato noticed the restrained anger on Setsuna's face, and quirked a  
brow at Tannim. "Luna's out of the bag, eh?"

Nodding toward Kagato, Tannim sat down on a nearby chair. He looked  
nervously behind him at the green-haired Senshi. "Yeah, so to speak.  
Thought it'd be best to get it out of the way as soon as possible."

Setsuna frowned at the duo. "Explain."

Kagato shrugged. "Not much to explain really... we know quite a bit  
about you all..."

"Do you know about my Father?" Ami asked, suddenly.

"You wouldn't know..." Setsuna said with a frown, though the barest  
hint of a blush was visible on the Guidance counselors' face.

Kagato grinned at her, somewhat lecherously. "We know everything."

Tannim slowly nodded, though he looked a bit unsure of himself. "Most  
everything," he corrected.

Setsuna glanced sharply at Tannim. "What don't you know?"

"Um..." Tannim looked over toward Kagato. "Didn't you say you never  
saw season two or four?"

"..." Kagato frowned before responding. "Okay... so we know...  
quite a bit, then. How much have you seen?"

Tannim nervously chuckled before responding. "Er... most of season  
one, bits of two, three... the rest I know is from online searching or  
reading lots of fanfiction. I had an RPG book, though, and that gave  
pretty detailed info, even if I didn't get to read it all."

"Hmm... well... I've played the Super Nintendo game on an emulator.  
And I have the 'Meet Sailor' books... but only Jupiter and Venus..."

Setsuna looked from one boy to the other, her confusion evident on her  
face. She thought she knew the English language pretty well, but  
this? Fanfiction? Are-Pea-Gee? Super Nintendo? "What nonsense are  
you two speaking?"

"Eh-heh... we're discussing... well, it doesn't matter. We've read  
the summaries, dammit!"

Tannim nodded emphatically. "Yeah... close enough for government  
work."

Kagato nodded, then shrugged. "What's the problem, anyway? Your  
secret's safe, and it's not like there's going to be any more threats,  
right?"

Tannim smacked his forehead with his palm. "Dammit, Kagato! Don't  
you know the first rule of any supernatual situation? NEVER tempt  
fate!" Tannim pointed an accusing finger at the other man. "You just  
jinxed the universe!"

Kagato frowned. "As if. It's not like we're in... side... oh  
yeah..."

Tannim stared off into the distance, listless. "I wonder what's going  
to happen now. Huge monsters? Random attacks by biker gangs? Or  
maybe some good old-fashioned undead rising up from their previous  
peaceful slumber, descending upon those hapless beings in some poor,  
out of the way Japanese town."

The Mercury Computer, currently scanning the rather simplistic  
communications of the planets' non-magic-using inhabitants, picked up  
something it'd been ordered to watch for at all times. It beeped  
once, then displayed on its small screen flash news from Southwest  
Tokyo.

The scene depicted was a rather gruesome one, a horde of the undead  
were currently ripping into frightened civilians, and, while there  
were quite a few dead-dead zombies, most of them were still moving,  
despite the fight their victims were putting up.

Tannim smacked himself once more on the forehead. "Aw, crappy."

Kagato frowned at Tannim. "Looks like the last option, Captain  
Stupid." Kagato, however, was thankful for the ability to share the  
blame of the current situation. If, indeed, it had been his fault,  
which he still doubted.

Turning to Tannim, Kagato frowned in thought, and then shrugged.  
"Alright. Pluto and I will go check it out, while you and the Silent  
Genius here gather the others. If they're anything like our zombies,  
you know what to grab on the way."

"Mmm... massive amounts of salt sounds good about now."

"Feh. Grab your gun, dolt. Head-shots, remember?" Kagato took  
Setsuna's hand, and grinned at her. "Hold on tight! It's gunna be a  
BUMPY ride!"

The two disappeared.

"Oh! Right! Bullets work fine. Luckily, I'm one of the few people  
in Japan that has a gun..." Tannim trailed off as he took out his  
revolver from the hidden pocket. The only ammunition he owned rested  
inside his gun. "Hmm... I'm gonna need more bullets."

---

Despite his new nature, Kagato took a step back once he saw the dead  
bodies that littered the city street, and the horde of undead  
shambling towards anyone in sight. Irksomely, though, he could feel  
himself gaining strength from the death, terror and pain in the air.  
Releasing the reeling Setsuna, he retreated to the astral plane for a  
moment, confused.

He returned after a moment, a look of grim determination on his  
typically chipper face. From the astral plane he had seen Setsuna  
disappear into a small, empty alley to transform. Kagato returned  
beside her, staring at the few zombies that had begun shambling their  
way.

"I don't like this." Setsuna said, matter-of-factly.

Kagato shrugged. "They started it. Let's finish it."

The young man paused.

"God that was such a cliche... lets pretend I didn't say that."

A moment later, the zombies were upon them. Kagato simply jumped  
around them, using his multidirectional senses to avoid those that  
came up behind him. Setsuna was laying down groups with Dead Scream  
after Dead Scream, and after a moment, when she'd given herself a  
little room, she turned.

"Hey, aren't you going to do anything besides dance around them?"  
shouted Setsuna irritably.

"Umm... I suppose..." Kagato responded, realizing that, while he could  
dodge and stuff all day, actually attacking was something he hadn't  
yet had a chance to try.

Concentrating for a moment, he summoned a little ball of black energy,  
and thought about changing it to fire. The ball quavered, and he  
frowned, thinking of how destructive, dangerous, and chaotic a good  
fire could be. The ball transformed from a black, evil-looking orb to  
a red, transparent sphere.

"Heh." Kagato tossed the ball at a zombie between himself and Sailor  
Pluto.

The resulting explosion threw Sailor Pluto through a few of the  
shambling monstrosities, while Kagato wisely ducked onto the astral  
plane when he saw the wall of flame advancing towards him.  
Reappearing beside Setsuna after the fireball had dissipated, he poked  
her softly.

"Hey... they're gone, but there are more coming. No time for a nap,"  
Kagato said, looking at the charred remains of the zombies within the  
blast radius. The blackened walls and shattered windows down the  
block made him smirk a bit.

"Maybe... I'll try using a little more restraint next time... heh."

---

Needless to say Usagi, Makoto, and Minako weren't very happy to hear  
the news.

"What do you mean, our English tutors know all about us?" exclaimed  
Usagi in a state of near-whine.

Ami's computer was still translating back in forth, unasked, while  
continuing to provide up-to-date footage of the impending zombie  
invasion.

Tannim tried to get the conversation back on track. "Hello! Zombies  
are attacking! Killing people as we speak! Need to get moving and  
teleport over there!"

"How do we know this isn't some kind of trap?" asked Makoto with her  
arms crossed.

Tannim rolled his eyes. "Geez. If I was trying to drain you of your  
energy or something, I'd pick the school to do it, and not bother  
luring you to some out of the way Japanese village."

Ami interrupted the protesting of the other Senshi. "He's right.  
People are dying, and we can't stand here and argue about it all day."

Tannim grinned. "So, are you guys going to do a naked transformation  
sequence or what?"

The paint nearly peeled itself off from the walls due to the combined  
glares of the Senshi.

Five seconds later Tannim was bodily tossed out of the room. The door  
slammed shut behind him as the young man idly rubbed his head in  
irritation. "Damn, forgot that translator thing was still working."

Ten seconds and one light show later, Tannim cautiously peeked his  
head back inside the room. "You guys done yet?"

Sailor Venus nodded. "But we can't teleport without Sailor Mars. We  
just don't have enough power."

"Oh, if it's power you need, I've got that in spades. I think," he  
added as an afterthought. "I've never really had myself tested as a  
power plant, but the principle is the same."

"Fine. We'll try it your way."

The girls formed a circle around the taller young man, clasping hands.

"Mercury Power!"

"Jupiter Power!"

"Venus Power!"

As a sudden thought occurred, Tannim mumbled, "I wish I had some more  
bullets."

"Bullets?" wondered Sailor Moon.

The group disappeared.

---

As the intrepid band of warriors opened their eyes and spread out,  
several things were made readily apparent. One was the fact that the  
Sailor Senshi (plus one erstwhile dimensional traveler) were not  
outdoors, but inside a building. Another was that no zombies were in  
sight, hinting toward the idea that perhaps something had gone awry.  
That, and the guys trying to load various boxes marked with bright red  
warning labels into a couple of trucks, was a strong indication that  
zombies were not invading this particular area.

One of the men stumbled, surprised at the sudden appearance of four  
women in skimpy schoolgirl-ish clothing, and dropped the crate he had  
been carrying. Its corner broke, and several small, round objects  
spilled onto the floor.

One of the objects rolled to a stop at Tannim's foot. Slowly, he bent  
over and picked it up for closer examination.

It turned out to be a hand grenade.

Tannim looked up in surprise at the men (now labeled as 'terrorists'  
in his mind) standing motionless before him. A couple of them looked  
down in shame, while the rest gave sheepish grins.

Grinning sheepishly himself, Tannim scratched the back of his head,  
before tossing back the grenade. "Here ya go, you dropped this."

The man who had dropped the crate nodded his thanks as he caught the  
explosive.

Still grinning, Tannim held up the pin for the terrorist to see.

The terrorist looked down at the grenade to see that it was, in fact,  
missing its pin.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Aaaah!" agreed Tannim.

"Eeeeeek!" screamed the Sailor Senshi, as what was going on finally  
sank in.

"Yaaaah!" screamed the man as he finally threw away the grenade,  
directly into the truck.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" screamed the man's companions, as the grenade  
detonated.

Boom, the truck exploded, splaying fire and shrapnel in all  
directions.

Tannim hastily grabbed the nearest crate, before shouting toward the  
girls. "Teleport! Now!"

They linked their hands and did so without speaking, just as the  
secondary explosions were getting underway.

---

As the group of adventurers opened their eyes a second time, they  
realized they had succeeded all too well. They were surrounded by  
devastation and horror. Bodies littered the streets; some torn apart,  
while others merely looked to be sleeping face down. The only  
creatures moving didn't move quickly at all, but in a sort of  
shuffling, aimless gait. The stench was horrendous; it permeated the  
air with the foul smell of blood and excrement.

The Sailor Senshi looked as if they were going to throw up.

Tannim simply sat on the ground and began to fumble with the box he  
had grabbed. Surprisingly, the lid lifted easily after undoing a  
simple latch and it opened to reveal row upon neat row of low-caliber  
ammunition. Quickly taking out his gun, he removed the bullets found  
there and stashed them away in a pocket deep within the recesses of  
his coat. Tannim then placed the bullet he had pulled from the crate  
into the revolver.

"Yatta! Perfect fit!" cried Tannim with joy.

The sound of Tannim's voice shook the Senshi from their stupor. Cries  
of outrage followed immediately by the names of their attacks sounded  
across the street as they unleashed their power against the lumbering  
zombies. Tannim ignored all this in favor for quickly packing as many  
bullets into his red trench coat as he could.

With a flick of his wrist Tannim flipped his revolver closed and  
stood, prepared to take on whatever evil was threatening humanity.  
However, everywhere he looked, he saw he wasn't needed, as the Sailor  
Senshi made short work of the zombies in the immediate area.

He paused for a moment.

"Gee, I wonder if there are any survivors?" spoke Tannim in a  
deliberately slow manner.

A high pitched scream sounded off to Tannim's left.

"Heh. Plot device works every time."

The young man sprinted toward the disturbance.

---

Kagato grinned cheerfully as he tossed another fireball into the  
approaching zombie hordes.

"This... is more fun than it should be," he muttered to himself as he  
let loose with another spell. For no real good reason, a memory  
suddenly made itself known to Kagato. "Wasn't there... I dunno... a  
film crew or something? Are they dead yet?"

Kagato shrugged as he blasted another group of zombies. "Guess it  
doesn't really matter..."

---

Row upon row of old-style Japanese houses lined the road as Tannim  
sprinted toward his objective. The air was thick with the stench of  
rotting flesh, while wisps of smoke clung to the surrounding area like  
a death shroud. Tannim passed a group of zombies that were  
systematically ripping apart the quivering flesh of the hapless  
townspeople they had killed.

BLAM

BLAM

BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM

Tannim shot them as he ran by. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop to  
check to see if the half-mangled corpses held any semblance of life.  
The screaming was getting more desperate now, with babbling cries for  
help liberally mixed in with incoherent shouting. He quickly and  
efficiently ejected the spent casings and reloaded his weapon. The  
young man approached the area where the screaming had been coming  
from.

Tannim turned the corner just in time to see a small child curled up  
on the ground in a fetal position, trapped in an alleyway with ten  
zombies. The alleyway itself was smaller than what Tannim was used to  
back home, but much cleaner.

He did the math: ten zombies, six bullets.

BLAAAAAAM

The positioning of the zombies in the relatively narrow alleyway  
allowed Tannim to aim in such a manner that two zombies were taken  
down by one bullet. Unfortunately, due to a pressing desire to save  
whoever had been calling for help, the young man was forced to direct  
the remaining shots toward the creatures that had almost reached the  
cowering person. The six retorts from the Colt revolver were so close  
together it sounded like one continuous blast. In rapid succession  
seven of the ten zombies all fell to the ground like marionettes with  
their strings cut, due in large part because of the gaping holes in  
each and every one of the fallen zombies' heads.

The three remaining monstrosities turned around and, with a speed that  
belied their lumbering gait, threw themselves at the person who had  
slain their brethren.

Just as Tannim received his first good look at the zombies, his entire  
body froze in shock at the sight: tattered remnants of what once might  
have been human bodies, arms mindlessly outstretched and reaching,  
grasping aimlessly as bits of flesh occasionally flaked off. It was  
something out of a horror movie given form, and multiplied a  
hundredfold from the simple fact that it was here and now, and not  
just on a television screen.

The young man was jarred into action as one of the zombies lunged  
toward him, mouth gaping wide. Acting on pure instinct, Tannim threw  
up his arm to block, and the zombie bit down. Hard.

"YEOUCH!" exclaimed Tannim as the creature sank its teeth deep into  
the young man's right forearm.

With a viciousness that surprised even himself, Tannim leapt to the  
side of the alleyway, lifting the zombie bodily from the ground, and  
slammed his arm against the wall. The head of the zombie crunched  
against the brick, simultaneously tearing through the throat and  
pulping its head in a gory splash of blood and brain matter.

Not pausing to admire his handiwork, Tannim whirled around with a  
fierce kick that terminated inside the head of another zombie.

The red coat-wearing man allowed himself a quick "ew" before jerking  
his foot back and ducking the lunge of the third zombie. Tannim  
quickly stood up, incidentally catching the feet of the monstrosity as  
it was thrown off balance by the move. The young man's features  
twisted in to a mask of rage as he swung the creature into the nearby  
wall. Repeatedly.

WACK

WACK

CRUNCH

The integrity of the zombie's skull, already compromised by decay,  
quickly gave way under the assault. Tannim took a quick, cleansing  
breath as he dropped the mangled corpse, gathering his wits about him  
after that close brush with death.

"Crappit, that hurt!" the young man exclaimed suddenly as he clenched  
his harm where the zombie had bitten him. Blood was seeping from  
between his fingers and onto the ground as he held a hand firmly over  
the worst of it in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "Guess I  
shouldn't have made it worse by bashing that guy's head against the  
wall. It drove the teeth even further into my arm," Tannim mused.

The young man tiredly retrieved the pistol that he had dropped  
somewhere in the confusion of battle. He looked toward the person he  
had saved... only to discover they were looking back at him.

Wait, not at him, but behind...

Tannim had a moment of shocked realization before he felt something  
slam into the back of his head. Then darkness.

---

End Chapter Six

---

Author's Notes:

Tannim: Finally, formatted better. Maybe we'll actually get out a chapter seven...  



End file.
